When the time came to crack down on Mac’s Public House, the Staten Island bar that notoriously defied Covid-19 restrictions, New York sent law enforcement officers from the Sheriff’s Office, a relatively small force that has 150 deputies and remains unknown. even to most New Yorkers.
But the obscure sheriff’s office has come under the spotlight as a surprising and highly visible frontline police unit in the city’s ongoing battle to maintain its restrictions on coronaviruses.
MPs cracked down on restaurants that disobey curfews and indoor dining rules. They have become a staple at bridge and tunnel checkpoints to monitor visitors from high-infection states.
Above all, they were the city’s main party crashers.
The designation of the sheriff’s office as the primary enforcer of the restrictions reflects the rush of states and communities across the country to determine how they should control a pandemic.
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In New York City, from the crowded sex club in Queens, the raging Halloween warehouse parties in Brooklyn and the Bronx, to nightclubs with bottle service and DJs performing in vacant commercial spaces in downtown Manhattan, it’s up to the sheriff’s office to shut them down. down.
But MPs are also vigilant about seeking advice on large gatherings in private homes. They introduce themselves and inform hosts that large meetings are not permitted.
Although sheriffs in other parts of the country are senior officials playing major roles in public safety decisions, the New York Sheriff’s Office has long been eclipsed by the New York Police Department.
That changed with the pandemic.
From the start, the police department implemented social distancing and lockdown regulations. It usually deals with criminal execution while the sheriff’s office executes civil and judicial orders.
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But sheriff’s deputies took on more of those duties as complaints mounted that police discriminated against poor people of color. The NYPD applied restrictions more frequently in neighborhoods that had more black and Hispanic and low-income households. Police have also had to pivot to tackle rising crime and patrol Black Lives Matter protests.
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