Chicago, NYC police outline safety precautions ahead of Labor Day weekend

Officials in Chicago and New York City are preparing for any potential crime and violence over the holiday weekend, asking cops to work extra hours and, in some cases taking extra measures to thwart any potential threats, authorities said.

On the heels of a violent summer, police in certain areas have issued warnings about the precautions their agencies will be taking to ensure the public is safe during the Labor Day weekend.

Officers from the Chicago Police Department will continue to work 12-hour shifts, as opposed to the eight-hour norm, and are not allowed any days off, CPD Superintendent David Brown said during a Friday morning press conference.

INDIANA BOY, 8, TOLD SCHOOL COUNSELOR HE SAW HIS FATHER KILL HIS MOM: POLICE

“We are extending hours, we are canceling our days off, that’s put 8,000 officers on the streets of Chicago over the next several days,” Brown said.

The policy will extend through Tuesday and will be accompanied by further safety and crime-prevention tactics, such as the use of extra barriers to prevent looting in some retail areas, such as the city’s downtown area, Brown said.

“We’ve put together our protection plan of our retail corridors, that not only utilizes police officers not in our retail corridors, but also we utilize barriers, make some of our streets in our downtown area more pedestrian, less vehicular,” he said. “Caravanning of cars to loot was a significant challenge a few weeks back, so this helps us not only protect tour downtown from a barrier feature standpoint.”

TWO MEN TRIED TO ABDUCT A 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL FROM A RENO PARKING LOT, POLICE SAY

The department will be monitoring open-source social media activity – anything that can be accessed on public social media channels, for any signs of potential instances of looting or other crimes. CPD will be working with other city agencies in the processing of preventing crimes and protecting the public, he said.

“We’re using not only our police officers, but we’re using our other departments – our water, streets and sand – all their vehicles help us create the same kinds of barricades for ingress and egress to those corridors so that we can protect it,” Brown added.

Thousands of officers with the New York Police Department will be patrolling the streets of the Big Apple over the weekend, working overtime as needed, officials said Thursday.

“As we do every year, New Yorkers are getting ready to celebrate Labor Day weekend, but given public health concerns, this is going to be a lot different than it has in the past. The one thing that is going to be the same is that the men and women of the NYPD will be out in large numbers to help ensure that this holiday is safe.”

He said the city, which had experienced a “tidal wave of violence” over the summer, had no planned events scheduled for the holiday, such as the yearly J’Ouvert festival in Brooklyn, and there were no scheduled street closures.

“In no way does this mean there won’t be hundreds of extra officers in the area, where we have historically increased our patrol forces for the weekend,” said NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan. “And let me be very clear: Those who cause violence and endanger lives can expect to be arrested by these same officers.”

Monahan said the city would use overtime funds to ensure patrol officers were out “in force.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

“Our message to New Yorkers: Don’t gather in large groups on the streets anywhere in the city, and this goes for house parties that we have experienced on this holiday. In addition to the obvious health reasons, the NYPD has seen violence stem from these large gatherings during the course of the summer, and we will be out there in force to fight crime and prevent violence this weekend.”