Shooting incidents in New York City have already surpassed last year’s total and 2020 isn’t over yet.
While the NYPD is working to address the surge in gun violence, it’s also navigating limited resources and support due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One way the department is combatting the issue is through a scheduling change that will put more officers on duty during weekends.
The schedule changes will affect every officer below the rank of sergeant who currently has both Saturday and Sunday off.
“It’s tough. It throws people’s lives further into imbalance, if you will, but this is something that we had to do — it gives us a little bit of flexibility,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told NY1 in an exclusive interview.
“I’m starting to feel like a business struggling to survive here. We’re doing what we can with the resources we have and making sure that it’s all hands on deck,” he added.
A third of officers to whom the changes apply will be switched to a Sunday through Thursday schedule. Another third will be on duty from Tuesday through Saturday, and the other third will get to keep their weekends off.
This follows a weekend that saw more than two dozen shootings across the city, resulting in five deaths.
Shea said the department is seeing shootings occur when large groups gather outdoors.
“The frustrating part is that it’s 99.9 percent just people trying to get outside, have some fun, and a couple knuckleheads with a gun show up,” he said.
The police commissioner also said the gun violence is often gang-related, which sometimes leads to victims not cooperating.
In part, he believes this is because of distrust to police or the system, but said usually after a few hours or a day victims may speak out.
Shea said he is not at all satisfied with the progress made to tame gun violence in the city.
“Am I satisfied? I could be anything but satisfied at this point and time. That’s not to say that the men and women of this police department aren’t out there — they’re out there working, they’re working hard. But it’s an extremely frustrating time,” he said.
The police commissioner joined “Mornings On 1” via Skype on Monday.