Exclusive: NYC Sheriff: Our Presence in the Neighborhood is Educational, Not Enforcement
In an exclusive interview with BoroPark24, NYC’s top Sheriff,
Joseph Fucito, said his officers aren’t here to issue summonses or enforcement,
but rather to remind the community to maintain social distancing and ready
their businesses to enter phase 1 when NYC is scheduled to on June 8th.
“Our intentions are not to go there and do heavy-handed
enforcement,” Sheriff Fucito told us. “In fact, quite the opposite, the
complaints have been coming in and what I’ve suggested is we go there and hand
out masks and educational material.”
While NYC is scheduled to enter phase 1 on June 8th,
the Sheriff said they wanted to come up with a way to spread the social
distancing message, and hand out masks as retail shops are getting ready to
open for curbside pickup as required once phase 1 kicks in.
“We’re not going to issue any summonses,” the top Sheriff
said. “We may actually stop into each business to drop off a package of what
phase 1 is going to mean.” The package may include guidance on what phase 1
means for non-essential retail shops, he added.
“Our presence there at least till June 8th is not
going to involve any type of summons issuance,” the Sheriff repeated. “Our
presence is going to be educational,” which includes playing the message from
the loudspeakers that encourages social distancing as much as possible.”
The Sheriff said he knows businesses are completely dependent
on customers, and his officers are not looking to shut down any business. “We’re
kind of like between a rock and a hard place, but I don’t want it to appear
that we are coming down on the neighborhood just by our mere presence there.”
Sheriff Fucito also explained that the long caravans are due
to the riots erupting across the city and to ensure the safety of its officers
they are not traveling around alone.
In the last two weeks, the Sheriff officers have not issued
any summonses in this neighborhood, but they still come by daily to remind the
community to stick to the government regulations. “We have to go because that’s
the role we’ve been given.”
Before finishing the conversation the Sheriff added a backhanded
compliment saying he doesn’t want people to think that NYC Sheriff Officers are
focusing on this community that’s being “very lawful” while riots are breaking
out in many neighborhoods across the city.