NYPD's New Specially Trained Unit to Assist Businesses
Getting Workers, Shoppers & Tourists Back To NYC

Manhattan Business Districts to Get More Police in Reopening Push
New NYPD division will work with firms as mayor tries to encourage return of office workers and help tourism rebound from pandemic

The New York Police Department will deploy dozens of officers to commercial districts in Manhattan as part of New York City’s push to encourage the return of workers to offices and help tourism rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic, police and city officials said.

The department’s business district recovery initiative detail will provide an additional police presence in any business community south of 59th Street, where business leaders said the quality of life in some corridors has deteriorated during the pandemic. The additional officers will help to change the perception that the areas are unsafe and combat a rise in public drug use, vandalism and aggressive panhandling, the business leaders said.

In the coming weeks, the new NYPD detail will work with businesses to identify areas in need of added patrols, police officials said. The detail will also provide community outreach, assist in responding to people in emotional distress and work with the city’s Department of Homeless Services to aid homeless people, police and city officials said.

Dan Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, a business-improvement district covering parts of Midtown Manhattan, said in an interview that increased numbers of aggressive panhandlers and people experiencing mental-health crises have made some office workers and shoppers cautious about returning to the area.

NYPD statistics show that assaults, robberies, auto thefts and burglaries have risen this year in the Midtown South police precinct, where the 34th Street Partnership is located.

“Really our biggest problem right now is erratic behavior from people on the street,” Mr. Biederman said. “We have complaints of emotionally disoriented people, or people on drugs, yelling at the top of their lungs.”

Bruce Caulfield, owner of Tracks Raw Bar & Grill on West 31st Street, said panhandling, petty theft and intravenous drug use have all made the streets around his restaurant unappealing to commuters and diners.

Mr. Caulfield, who has continuously operated businesses in and around Penn Station since 1987, said quality-of-life problems in the area are worse now than at any point since the early 1990s.

A spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said social-service agencies are taking the lead in outreach, and the NYPD’s new detail is a specially trained police unit to assist in anything city workers need. “The pandemic led to unprecedented displacement and economic insecurity, and it takes a full team effort to help us all recover here,” the spokesman said.

As part of the city’s push to reopen, Mr. de Blasio said last month that city government workers would begin returning to their offices in May. Most companies in Manhattan, however, have kept their employees working remotely. Only 10% of Manhattan office workers had returned to their desks by early March, according to a survey from the Partnership for New York City, a business group representing private-sector employers.

Last week city officials announced that they would launch a $30 million campaign to revive tourism, which plummeted during the pandemic. wsj.com