NYPD Cops Accused Of Using Coronavirus Mourning Bands To Hide ID

NEW YORK CITY – Black mourning bands designed to remember NYPD cops who have died from the coronavirus are being used to hide names and badge numbers of the shields of officers policing protests, the mayor was told Friday.

NYPD officers started to wear the bands in April to remember department members lost to the pandemic, Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the time.

But the mayor was asked at a briefing for the media about reports that the mark of respect was being used as a way for officers to avoid being held accountable as they policed patrols.

The mayor promised consequences for any officer found blocking means of being idenitfied.

"I'll leave it to Commissioner Shea to determine the appropriate approach to ensuring that officers don't do that and that any who do have consequences, but it is just inappropriate," he said.

"And it's part of public trust – the whole notion of why there is a badge number and a name to begin with is to – was many years ago determined to help create trust. "

The mayor added that his own daughter Chiara, who was arrested for blocking traffic during a protest on Broadway on Saturday, complained to him that some officers were refusing to turn on body cameras.

"I understand in the midst of a lot of activity, sometimes people might legitimately forget," he said.

"But I want to be abundantly clear, police officers in the middle of dealing with a protest or any activity that is required, have to have their body cameras on, police officers have to have their name and badge visible, covering up your badge number or your name is absolutely inappropriate."

He added, "Absolute transparency – body cameras on when they're supposed to, badge number showing, name showing, no exceptions, and there has to be a clear way of ensuring that happens every time."

The National Lawyers Guild has also complained about the bands in a letter sent to the NYPD, according to a report in The Intercept.

Obscuring badge numbers “serves to prevent aggrieved individuals from being able to identify the perpetrators of police misconduct or relevant witnesses to same, and the failure of the NYPD to stop this practice provides a sense of impunity to members of the service that they can violate demonstrators’ rights without consequence," the letter said.