They didn’t mask their disdain for the NYPD.
A police summit with Times Square’s costumed menaces to help keep them out of handcuffs was a total bust — with just nine characters showing up and refusing to have a dialogue, sources told The Post.
The plan was to meet with and educate the aggressive Elmos, Batmen and Cookie Monsters who prey on tourists in the Crossroads of the World to prevent more arrests. “But the meeting was a waste of time. They were in their little costumes, [and] they didn’t give a s–t about what we had to say,” a source said of the meeting.
Instead, they played hardball with New York’s Finest — bringing an unidentified lawyer with them to the meeting Wednesday evening on the Duffy Square bleachers.
The NYPD took the meeting far more seriously, with its contingent including Susan Herman, deputy commissioner of collaborative policing, and other NYPD brass.
“They said, ‘We have nothing to say. Talk to her, [our] rep,’ ” the source said of the characters.
Blowing off the cops could prove painful for the scruffy scoundrels — who are being targeted by undercover police operations. A Tuesday sting included two lieutenants, one sergeant and 10 police officers posing as tourists.
“It’s was a very big deal. It was a whole big to-do,” the source said about the operation that led to the arrest of a woman in an Elmo suit for overly aggressive panhandling.
The cops involved had a tactical meeting ahead of time that included NYPD legal experts to make sure it was conducted properly, the source added.
Cops later tweeted a photo of the cuffed Elmo — in a fuzzy red outfit but no headgear.
On Saturday, José “Batman” Escalona-Martinez, 41, and his “Spider-Man” pal Abdel Elkahezai, 35, were arrested for brawling with a heckler.
Escalona-Martinez was back on the job Thursday and said the cops are as much to blame as the characters.
“These cops disrespect us so much. They are aggressive and hassle us for no reason. Cops yell at us and say, ‘F–k you!’ so f–k them back. They say we are bad, but they can be bad too. So screw them” seethed Escalona-Martinez.
He said he had a good excuse for missing the NYPD meeting.
“I couldn’t go to the meeting on Wednesday because I was in jail for assault!” he said. “Police don’t do anything for us. They don’t respect us, so we can’t respect them.”
Others have been busted for overly-aggressive panhandling, assault and groping customers — prompting the City Council to take up legislation that would require characters to register with the city, undergo a criminal-background check and pay $170 for a two-year license.
Walter “Iron Man” Aragon, 35, said he ducked the meeting to stay under the cops’ radar.
“I don’t want to be targeted, so I didn’t go to the meeting. I haven’t been arrested, and I can’t afford to be arrested. I have a wife and two kids,” he said.