The New York Police Department has announced that it will terminate its plainclothes anti-crime units and shift those officers over to different parts of the department. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea made the announcement on Monday during a press conference.
“Make no mistake, this is a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city,” Shea told reporters.
“It will be felt immediately throughout the five district attorney’s offices. It will be felt immediately in the communities that we protect,” Shea added.
While this move will eliminate plainclothes officers in the anti-crime unit, it will not eliminate plainclothes officers in other unites. Surveillance, narcotics and transit units will still utilize plainclothes officers.
New York City police commissioner Dermot Shea says the NYPD will be disbanding it’s plainclothes anti-crime unit effective immediately.
“This is 21st century policing.”
pic.twitter.com/xEAODWR7JC— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 15, 2020
The announcement was met with happiness and skepticism from some in the area.
“This is welcome news, but New Yorkers will not be better served if these officers are simply reassigned, carrying with them the same bad habits that earned Anti-Crime its dismal reputation,” New York’s Legal Aid Society writes.
“These units used to terrify Black New Yorkers … under Giuliani. Glad they’re finally being disbanded but sorry, how do they still exist at all?” Joy Ann Reid asked on Twitter.
There are 600 plainclothes officers looking to be reassigned. Shea has not yet identified where they will be moved.
