NYPD denying due process to expose people to deadly virus out of spite

Gee, I wonder why so many people are protesting this particular organization:

The New York City legal system is critically backlogged with a pileup of cases stemming from both the COVID-19 shutdown and the thousands of arrests and detentions related to recent protests against police brutality.

Yet for a week during the protests, the NYPD directed its officers not to appear in court to testify, further delaying criminal hearings for people held pretrial and awaiting possible release from jail, according to documents obtained by The Appeal and interviews with public defenders.

In a memo dated June 2—addressed to “all commands” and signed on the “authority of the police commissioner”—the NYPD declared that “all court appearances” were “cancelled” for the rest of that week. 

It will not surprise you to learn that it was Andrew Cuomo who made this possible:

Under New York state law, within six days of arrest, prosecutors must either indict in front of a grand jury someone they’ve charged with a felony offense, or they must hold what is known as a preliminary hearing so that a judge, prosecutors, and the defense may argue about whether a felony was committed and whether the defendant should remain jailed as pretrial procedures commence. But in March, because of the COVID-19 crisis, Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended via executive order most court procedures and deadlines, including the six-day grand jury or preliminary hearing requirement for felonies—a move some thought could be unconstitutional.

And as Radley Balko observes, the prosecutors and judges here are equally culpable; they could have made it clear to the NYPD that they would dismiss charges against people if NYPD officers refused to do their job, but chose to keep people in unconscionably unsafe conditions while denying them due process instead.