NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 22: NYPD police officers are seen in Times Square.(Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - The coronavirus outbreak is causing staffing problems for the NYPD. On Friday, March 27, 2020, 4,111 NYPD uniformed employees were on the sick report. That means 11.4% of the department’s uniformed workforce called out sick.
Currently, 442 uniformed members and 70 civilian members tested positive for the coronavirus.
The New York City Police Department announced the first two coronavirus deaths of members of the NYPD family. A custodial employee and a civilian member of the service died on Thursday.
According to the NYPD, Dennis C. Dickson, a custodian assigned to police headquarters who had worked with the department for 14 years died at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. Giacomina Barr-Brown, a seven-year veteran of the NYPD, died Thursday night in her home.
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“Mr. Dickson was a revered member of the custodial staff at Police Headquarters once spending 17 days at the headquarters building during Superstorm Sandy assisting with emergency cleanup operations. Mr. Dickson was again on the front line cleaning and disinfecting 1 Police Plaza so that our personnel could be here safely, allowing them to continue to serve the people of the City Of New York,” the NYPD said in a statement.
Barr-Brown was assigned to the 49th Precinct Roll Call Office, where she helped to ensure that patrol and administrative assignments were adequately covered on a daily basis.
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