de Blasio all talk on cracking down on Times Square creeps

Mayor Bill de Blasio talked a big game Tuesday about cracking down on Elmo and other costumed creeps harassing tourists and New Yorkers alike in Times Square — but offered no concrete plans for how to do it.

“We are going to be all over the situation,” Hizzoner huffed at an unrelated press briefing, held one day after a Post front-page story on troubling new statistics about the handsy hawkers at the Crossroads of the World.

The pesky pervs molest 24 passers-by per hour during peak traffic, according to a study by the Times Square Alliance. The statistic was revealed days after Elmo-dressed Inocente Andrade-Pacheco was arrested for allegedly groping a 14-year-old girl as she posed for a photo.

“We’re going to make sure the NYPD has everything they need there to very aggressively enforce the law,” said de Blasio, insistent that alleged attacks such as Andrade-Pacheco’s would not become commonplace.

“I don’t accept that kind of reality, and we have issued enough warnings to the folks who do that work, those characters,” he said.

But asked what specific steps de Blasio would take to rein in the nuisances, City Hall left that in the lap of the Finest.

“The NYPD reviews plans and protocols constantly, always striving to get better,” a mayoral spokeswoman said. “If an adjustment is needed, they’ll make it.”

The creeps are supposed to work in “designated activity zones” under the terms of 2016 legislation intended to let them peacefully coexist with wide-eyed tourists and New Yorkers just trying to get around the congested area.

But the costumed characters are regularly spotted straying from their lanes in an attempt to entice — or grab — customers.

“We created those zones for a reason, and there’s a whole lot of officers to do enforcement,” de Blasio said. “So anyone who does something like that, breaks the law, we’ll be all over them.”

With the magnifying glass again on Times Square after Andrade-Pacheco’s bust and the survey’s release, the masked beggars largely toed the line and stuck to their zones Tuesday — though they drew a handful of verbal reminders from passing cops when they drifted into general foot traffic.

Only one Elmo was spotted among the mangy menagerie, and a woman was beneath the mask.

Andrade-Pacheco has maintained his innocence and was freed without bail.

Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick

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