NYPD Prepares For Massive Election Protests

NEW YORK CITY — A once-in-a-century pandemic. Months of protests and civil turmoil. The most contentious election in living memory.

Three unprecedented social and political storms converge Nov. 3 — Election Day — and the city’s top cops promise NYPD officers will be ready.

Terence Monahan, the city’s Chief of Department, deployed hundreds of additional uniformed cops starting Oct. 26 to any election-related troubles that arise.

“As we continue to facilitate peaceful protests across the city, currently we have no known threats of disruptions and we do not expect any during the course of the next few weeks,” he said. “But let me be clear, the NYPD is fully prepared to protect every person’s right to vote.”

NYPD officers have been stationed at 88 early voting locations across the city since they opened Oct. 24, Monahan said. Likewise, officers also will cover more than 1,200 polling locations on Election Day, he said.

The large police presence could draw a negative reaction citywide.

Protesters, especially in May and June, decried years of NYPD brutality and enforcement against people of color — only to be met with aggressive cops who drove cars into crowds and brutalized demonstrators. Looting did pop up early in the protests, but most demonstrations were peaceful.

And the city’s police unions have vocally backed President Donald Trump, who has backed more aggressive police actions against what he describes as anarchy in the city.

Monahan claimed officers won’t let their own politics sway how they act during the election.

“When we put on this uniform we are apolitical,” he said.

NYPD officers have been retrained on crowd control and conducted “table top exercises” on various scenarios, Monahan said. He said all that was done despite this presidential election being no different than others.

“We don’t see any threat at this point,” he said.