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Police Group Urged to Focus on Helping Needy not Parking Tickets

Police Group Urged to Focus on Helping Needy not Parking Tickets

(Bloomberg) -- Police departments across the U.S. should cut down on arrests and instead of writing parking tickets officers ought to be helping the needy during the pandemic, a group that includes conservative nonprofits told a major U.S. police association.

Limiting unnecessary contact between police and the public can mitigate the spread of the coronavirus among officers and protect their families, groups including the Heritage Foundation and the free-market think tank R Street Institute said in a letter to the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Conference of Mayors.

The group highlighted the New York Police Department, saying that more than 6,500 officers -- about 18% of the force -- had called in sick or were in quarantine last week, including about 1,500 who tested positive for Covid-19.

“Routine police enforcement of everything from littering to violent assault regularly requires officers to make many physical contacts per shift with multiple members of the public, other officers, and emergency and medical personnel,” the groups said. “This level of contact in current enforcement practices heightens the risk of Covid-19 spreading.”

A series of emergency policing practices should be adopted, such as giving officers greater discretion to issue verbal warnings and citations rather than making arrests, and switching nonessential operations like parking enforcing to assisting the elderly, helping people get tested and distributing hand sanitizer and soap, the groups said. Police officers also shouldn’t be penalized for skipping their shifts because they’re sick, they said.

“Officers should not have to weigh the future of their careers against the threat of spreading Covid-19 to their co-workers, family, and other emergency personnel,” the groups said.

The letter was spearheaded by the REFORM Alliance, founded by hip-hop artist Meek Mill and led by Chief Executive Officer Van Jones, a Democratic political commentator and former Green Jobs Advisor to President Barack Obama.

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