New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D-N.Y.) has publicly called on the New York Police Department to stop enforcing social distancing measures for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans, claiming that there is a disparity between punishments for minorities and punishments for white Americans, according to Fox News.
James cited statistics released by the NYPD the previous day showing that 90 percent of such violations were committed by black or Hispanic citizens. Out of 125 people arrested from March to May, 83 were black and 30 were Hispanic.
“The apparent unequal enforcement of social-distancing policies,” James said, “is deeply troubling and deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are tasked to protect.” James also claimed that “it is inherently wrong to aggressively police one group of people,” and that “the NYPD must ensure that a New Yorker’s race, color, and neighborhood does not determine how they are patrolled.”
James demanded that the NYPD hand over a number of materials and documents to her office by Friday, including “demographics of people who were arrested or issued summonses, as well as officer training material.” NYPD spokeswoman Jessica McRorie confirmed in a statement that “the NYPD will of course work with [James] in any way.”