The NYPD is considering restricting car and foot traffic in swaths of Manhattan as a potential “contingency plan” to deter looting and vandalism in the event of post-election civil unrest, NYPD officials confirmed on Monday.
“We have contingency plans in place to freeze areas of Manhattan should wide scale looting occur,” an NYPD spokesperson wrote in an email. “These plans were developed out of an abundance of caution and we do not believe we will have to implement them.”
It’s not entirely clear where the potential frozen zones might be implemented or what would trigger the NYPD to activate them, and the NYPD spokesperson declined to say.
But the School of Visual Arts, which has a campus on East 23rd Street, informed students and staff this week that its campus was in one of the designated “freeze zones” and its facilities would be closed through Friday, except to essential employees.
“For those on or near campus, be aware that the NYPD is implementing ‘freeze zones’ restricting movement for pedestrians and automobiles in the area from 14th to 23rd streets along Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue,” the school posted on its website. An SVA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In recent days, many major retailers have boarded up their SoHo and Midtown locations, while some Manhattan condo buildings had hired extra security, bracing for a potential repeat of this summer, when largely peaceful demonstrations in the streets following the Minnesota police killing of George Floyd gave way to several nights of looting and property damage.
“Frozen zones” or “freeze zones” have been implemented by the NYPD in the past to restrict areas where people could protest under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Republican National Convention in 2004.
The NYPD used smaller scale versions of frozen zones during recent protests against racist police violence, restricting public access to areas around the Barclays Center and City Hall. The NYPD also blocked off streets around certain police precincts, with some street closures lasting long after the protests wound down. Last week, the same day the New York Civil Liberties Union sued the city alleging widespread police abuse during the summer, it sent a letter to the mayor demanding the NYPD stop using frozen zones, arguing they “create confusion and provide pretexts for arrests.”
Similar zones are typically established around Times Square for New Year’s Eve to protect against potential terrorist threats.
“Clearly for public safety it’s not illegal to shut down areas of the city,” said David Rankin, a civil rights attorney who has sued the NYPD over the implementation of such zones in the past. “The question then becomes why are you doing it.”
If police implement such zones once “a widespread series of criminal acts,” has taken place, Rankin said, the NYPD is likely in sound legal territory. But Rankin added that if the NYPD puts them in place based on speculation that civil unrest might occur, that’s a potential violation of First Amendment rights.
“Shutting down parts of the city can be deeply problematic,” he said. “The idea that we should trust [the NYPD] to close down large portions of Manhattan to protect property interests and that they’re the arbiters of that is deeply disturbing.”
Black Lives Matter and anti-Trump groups have in recent weeks accused the NYPD of handling their protests with excessive force while showing restraint and even indifference toward unruly Blue Lives Matter and pro-Trump demonstrations. Some activists now worry about how the police might use frozen zones against them in the coming days.
“I’m really concerned about the violence,” said Derrick “Dwreck” Ingram, 28, an activist with Warriors in the Garden, adding that he feared the NYPD might “use a small fraction of angry demonstrators... to use brutality against all of us.”
He cited what he saw as the politicization of the police force, including the NYPD’s biggest union’s endorsement of President Trump. On Sunday, pro-Trump caravans overtook city streets, harassing bystanders and even hitting one with their car. No arrests were made, while heavily armored NYPD officers cracked down on a tiny counter-protest that was already dispersing, arresting 11 people, including two photographers.
When asked about how the NYPD handled enforcement on Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio denied the groups had been treated differently.
“I know people across the ideological spectrum who have been protesting, and if they violate a law or they cause harm to someone else, people are being arrested,” he said. “I just don’t see any evidence of disparate approach.”
“It has to be, it will be and it has been fair treatment across the board,” he said.
His office declined to comment, deferring to the NYPD when asked to explain frozen zones more thoroughly.
Jessica Gould contributed reporting.
