In a press conference on Thursday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed that the police pay a visit to people accused of non-criminal but “hurtful” behavior in the wake of anti-Asian American crimes, to deliver a warning.

De Blasio said the NYPD could visit those accused of racism or discrimination, “even if something is not a criminal case.” The exchange happened near the end of the “media availability” event when a reporter questioned de Blasio about his response to reports of racism, specifically toward Asian Americans over the course of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“My message to all New Yorkers and particularly to Asian American New Yorkers at this point, is please report what you see,” said de Blasio. “We need it. We need to know what’s happening. We need to know if you’ve been treated wrongly. If you’ve been a victim of discrimination, if you have been a victim of a hate crime, if you’ve been a victim of violence based on who you are, we need to know about immediately. We need to know everything we can to find those who did it and bring them to justice. Because I’m a believer that we of course need the bigger efforts, the education, the outreach, but we also need consequences.”

A Washington Post reporter asked the Mayor about cases that do not rise to the level of criminality. “How would the NYPD confront someone if it’s not criminal? Would they have a conversation with them to say, ‘Hey, that’s actually not cool?’”

“Well, that’s exactly what happens…” de Blasio replied. “One of the things officers are trained to do is to give warnings. If someone has done something wrong, but not rising to a criminal level, it’s perfectly appropriate for an NYPD officer to talk to them to say that was not appropriate…

“And I think that has an educating impact on people. I think it has a sobering impact that we need,” he continued. De Blasio added that he wants to expand the definition of hate crime and then “[follow] up aggressively” with those who have not even committed one yet, so that “people feel the presence of law enforcement in the city watching them to make sure this does not happen again.”

So at the same time Democrats want to defund the police, which will lead to soaring levels of crime, they now want the few remaining cops to spend their time and resources intimidating people who haven’t yet committed a crime but have been accused of being racist, much like the British police delivering warnings to people who have posted tweets deemed “Islamophobic.” The Democrats want a police state to control thought crime but not one to control actual crime.