NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York City’s top cop on Tuesday said he’s aware of “zero occurrences” of vaccine fraud among Police Department officers following reports highlighting alleged schemes to fake proof within other agencies.
Reports in the Daily News and New York Post over the weekend highlighted that more than 100 workers at FDNY and DSNY were being probed for allegedly submitting fake coronavirus vaccine documentations, with some accused of selling off blank vaccination cards.
“I could tell you we’ve had zero occurrences of that reported, to my knowledge, internally in the NYPD. I’m also...I’m not aware of our role in any investigation — although I will check as it pertains to that and outside agencies,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday during an appearance on NY1.
“I think anyone doing that — number one: it’s a foolish thing to do. Number two: you’re potentially opening yourself up to criminal investigations,” he added. “So get the shot and let’s keep moving forward.”
Shea, who has been vocally supportive of vaccines and a city worker mandate, oversees an agency with one of the highest shares of employees seeking exemption, behind DSNY and FDNY, according to a Gothamist analysis.
The NYPD has hit a vaccination rate of 87% after roughly 6,100 employees submitted vaccine exemption requests, which the city is currently reviewing, according to Shea.
“Those are legal requests. There’s no looking down on anyone that’s putting in a request. There will be a review; they’ll be handled,” Shea said.
She also noted that his agency is still in “good shape” to handle the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square as well as other holiday events, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Dec. 1 Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
He pointed to the agency’s work handling the return of the New York City marathon earlier this month.
“I think we’re in good shape. It’s going to be a combination of a lot of police officers and detectives out there,” Shea said, noting that there the city doesn’t currently have any perceived threats for NYE.
“We’ll have counterterrorism overlays and we’ll also have to respond to any intelligence or threats — that currently don’t exist...but that’s something that we’re literally working with our federal partners day-to-day on,” he added.
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