‘Largest police deployment of the year’ to keep the peace at NYC’s raucous J’Ouvert festival

The peace at the raucous J’Ouvert and the West Indian American Day Parade festivities will be enforced by a 2,500-cop deployment, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Friday.

“This will be the largest police deployment of the year, even bigger than our deployments for New Year’s Eve in Times Square, even bigger than our deployments for July 4,” Tisch said alongside Mayor Eric Adams.

“This must remain a celebration, not an occasion marred by guns or disorder. This weekend is meant to highlight culture, music and Caribbean pride, and it should not be overshadowed by headlines about bloodshed or chaos.”

The annual twin events unfolding Monday – which begin with an early bird tradition dubbed J’Ouvert – jubilantly celebrate Caribbean culture and heritage along the streets of Brooklyn.

But the joyous carnival atmosphere has often been overshadowed by violence, such as when Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Carey Gabay was fatally shot in the head during 2015 after getting caught in gang crossfire.

No specific or credible threats have been made to J’Ouvert or the parade this year, Tisch said.

She said the NYPD has nonetheless worked for months with organizers, community groups, city officials and others to develop a security plan.

“This weekend, we are going to have 2,500 officers on foot posts, on the streets where we know that gang violence or gang violence has occurred in the past,” Tisch said.

Street closures will follow the parade route along Eastern Parkway, as well as the J’Ouvert route along Flatbush Avenue to Empire Boulevard to Nostrand Avenue.

Thirteen entry points along Empire Boulevard and Nostrand Avenue will be manned by NYPD cops with handheld metal detectors.