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NEW YORK, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton has told New York police officers if they don't get back to work, they can forget taking vacation in the foreseeable future. The NYPD has seen a dramatic drop in arrests and ticketing. On New Year's Eve, one of the busiest nights in Manhattan with one million people drinking and partying, the NYPD handed out a grand total of zero tickets.
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The slowdown is thought to be in protest against Mayor Bill de Blasio after they felt he didn't show them enough support following the death of Eric Garner at the hands of an NYPD officer. De Blasio, whose children are black, expressed his own concerns about his son facing officers.
"Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses," an member of the union told the New York Post.
"Everyone here is under orders -- no time off" during the summons catch-up blitz," said an officer from the 105th precinct in Queens.
Bratton admitted the existence of the slowdown in an interview Friday and it was confirmed by the police department's spokesman.
Bratton says he does not know of any coordinated attempt to slowdown the work of the department.
"The slowdown is over in the sense that the numbers are starting to go back up again," said Bratton. "I anticipate by early next week that the numbers will return to their normalcy."
Aside from the loss of revenue, the decision could damage the positive trend of of the crime rate in the city.
