Police officers work on Times Square during the 2020 U.S. presidential election in New York, the United States, Nov. 3, 2020. Photo:Xinhua

Deescalating situations has to be the consistent approach, as people await the election results while hoping all it free and fair, said Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday during his regular press briefing.

"The crucial point here is that we obviously cannot allow violence, let's be clear, attacks on people, setting fires, attacks on officers, attacks on property. We just can't allow that, and we won't. But at the same time, the goal is always to deescalate and that's what is important to ensure and everything we do," he said.

"We're going to be looking at every single situation. Was it used effectively or not -- it needs to be. So, de-escalation, that's what we train in the Police Academy. That's what been crucial to neighborhood policing," said the mayor.

Making comments in response to a question raised about the sporadic violence that occurred on the occasion of Election Day in New York, de Blasio said that "it's an extraordinary time in history to say the least there's such deep feeling. There's such concern. There's a lot of tension."

"But if we see any evidence of folks intending violence or intending looting, we're going to deal with it. There's a whole set of tools to address that," he said.

"The faster we get a clear result, the better off we'll all be, and the more respect for the electoral process, the better off we'll all be," he added.

During Election Day on Nov. 3, police officers were heavily mobilized and dispatched to monitor 1,201 polling stations around the city, including 708 public schools and new polling sites at Madison Square Garden and Lincoln Center in Manhattan, and Barclays Center in Brooklyn.