During a press conference on Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) discussed reopening indoor dining in New York City and called on New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to put together a task force of 4,000 NYPD officers to enforce restaurant opening guidelines.
Cuomo said, [relevant remarks begin around 5:10] “I’d like to see the restaurants open. However, there’s a but. B-U-T. The but is, our rules and guidance on reopening [are] only as good as the compliance and the enforcement. … I don’t have any more state resources to do it. So, we’re going to contact the speaker today and say, look, if New York City can say, this many police, NYPD, can be put on the task force to monitor the compliance, that’s something that we can discuss. I’m going to say to the Restaurant Association, that desperately wants to open, and I understand the economic pressure, can you tell me how we’re going to enforce it and how we’re going to monitor compliance?”
He added, “You have 34,000 NYPD — there’s a lot of questions about the NYPD and their activities, put together a task force of NYPD, Speaker Johnson, and say, there are going to be 4,000 police who are going to be doing restaurant compliance.”
(h/t Zach Williams)
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