NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Cities across the country have increased security in anticipation of any demonstrations stemming from the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd.
Closing arguments in the case begin Monday.
Prosecutors will work to convince the jury that Floyd died because Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck for more than nine minutes while the defense will argue again that other factors, including drug use and health issues, caused Floyd's death.
Once closing arguments conclude, the case will go to the jury. Jurors will be sequestered as they deliberate.
The eventual verdict will come in a city and nation on edge over the outcome.
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In New York, the NYPD has told officers not to take any unscheduled days off starting Monday and until further notice.
In a departmentwide memo obtained by the New York Post, the NYPD said the order was "necessary in order to satisfy personnel requirements for any post Derek Chauvin verdict protests."
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told NY1 last week that the NYPD has been in contact with officials in Minneapolis and expects the possibility of protests across the five boroughs.
Shea said officers have been doing drills and tabletop exercises to avoid confrontation.
"Certainly a lot is going to have to do with the outcome, but we've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes with everyone from grassroots organizations, elected officials, clergy and making sure that whatever happens we do it peacefully, we do it without violence here. I'm confident that's what's going to happen," Shea said.
He is urging for peace and calm.
"If there is a situation where there is going to be protests or things of that nature that we all agree that we just want to do it calmly and peacefully with no injuries, no property damage," Shea added.
Civil rights leaders gathered outside the Barclays Center on Sunday and called upon police to give protesters space as they march through the streets.
"When the verdict happens with Derek Chauvin we will not allow the police to stop us from peaceful protesting and doing civil disobedience in this city," Rev. Kevin McCall said. "We're going to be in the streets whatever way in which the verdict goes. Why? Because we still have a problem with police in the city."
The department's handling of protests last year resulted in a lawsuit from the state attorney general following what she called a pattern of excessive, brutal and unlawful force against peaceful protesters, an apology from Mayor Bill de Blasio and nearly 300 formal complaints to the NYPD's oversight body.
In Minneapolis, in-person classes are suspended beginning Wednesday.
Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the most serious of his charges, second degree murder.
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