New sheriff in NYC? No, but pandemic lifts obscurity of one

NEW YORK (AP) — Raids. Checkpoints. Late-night busts. It's all been part of the job for the lawman tasked with enforcing New York City's COVID-19 restrictions.

The pandemic crackdown by the New York City Sheriff’s Office raises the question: Is there a new sheriff in a town that barely knew it had one?

The answer: No, Sheriff Joseph Fucito is not a newcomer. He’s worn the badge for the past six years, serving until now in a civil law-enforcement role that hasn’t carried the notoriety of the sheriffs of Wild West folklore.

That changed when, thanks to an expanded role ordered by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Fucito emerged from obscurity as leader of a force that’s normally more focused on assignments like chasing cigarette tax scofflaws and carrying out eviction orders as a division of the city Department of Finance.

In recent months, the sheriff's office has been the primary New York City agency enforcing the rules set up to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Fucito’s force first stepped into the pandemic fray earlier this year while the New York City Police Department was busy grappling with massive street protests over the police killing of George Floyd and a spike in city shootings.

Since August, sheriff's deputies have shut down 41 illegal large-scale gatherings, including underground parties featuring DJs, alcohol and maskless revelers. They have also stopped more than 9,000 vehicles at bridge-and-tunnel entry points to check on travel origin and warn of quarantine regulations, passing out nearly 64,000 masks in the process.

De Blasio has called the deputies working for Fucito “heroes” of the city’s outbreak response. Still, even the mayor concedes that before the pandemic, “people didn’t know a lot about the sheriff’s department.”

Indeed,...