NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The head of the NYPD on Tuesday acknowledged that some cops haven't been wearing masks consistently, but said he didn't appreciate "the singling out of police officers" when New Yorkers with other occupations don't always wear face coverings either.
In an interview with NY1's Pat Kiernan, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said his department has been working to ensure that his department's rank and file know they should be wearing masks on the job.
"It's something that we do take very seriously. It's about speaking to the officers, getting compliance," he said. "If it comes to additional discipline, certainly that is on the table, and we've made that very clear to them, but again, it's about vetting, compliance, and making New Yorkers have faith and trust in their police department."
NYPD officers, however, aren't the only ones in New York City who have been caught without face coverings, Shea argued.
"When you talk about the mask-wearing of the officers, can you find an officer [who isn't wearing one]? Absolutely. I think you can find someone in basically any walk of life across New York City, and multiple jobs, not wearing masks," he said. "We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our fallen comrades, we owe it to the people of New York City to do our part, as all New Yorkers do."
"What I don't like is the singling out of police officers. But that's okay. We are a tough bunch, and we can take it," he added. "But let's be honest for a second. Walk around the streets of New York City, or any other city, and turn on the TV, and you'll see incidents of politicians, you'll see clergy, you'll see taxi drivers you'll see athletes, you'll see police officers [not wearing masks], so I think we can all do better."
As of Monday, no NYPD officers had been fined or disciplined for failing to wear face coverings, despite the fact that the Civilian Complaint Review Board has received more than 150 complaints about officers without masks since May, the New York Post reported.
Forty-six NYPD members have died of complications related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
