NYPD announces landmark agreement on protest response reform
NEW YORK -- The NYPD announced a landmark agreement Tuesday with the state attorney general's office to reform how the department polices protests.
The settlement stems from several lawsuits over the NYPD's response to mass demonstrations in the summer of 2020.
This comes three years after the NYPD was accused of using excessive force and unjust practices against protesters in the wake of George Floyd's murder. Now, the department is agreeing to completely change how it deploys officers to similar demonstrations going forward.
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"They were essentially using antiterrorism tactics against peaceful protesters," plaintiff Micaela Martinez said.
Martinez was at the South Bronx protest for police reform in June 2020 where the NYPD is accused of "kettling" the crowd. It's a tactic in which officers surround and confine a group, then arrest by force.
"I just remember getting grabbed by a police officer and pulled from where I was and then getting handed off to another officer to be ziptied," Martinez said.
Martinez joined a civil rights lawsuit against the NYPD, which now, more than three years later, has led to a historic settlement.
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The NYPD has agreed to stop its use of kettling, as well as minimize police presence at protests with a tiered response system to deploy only as many officers as are necessary.
"When you saw a larger amount of police at a nonviolent vigil or protest, it felt as if the tensions rose," City Councilman Chi Ossé said.
"We hope that it will mean that there are often fewer police officers at protests," said New York Civil Liberties Union Deputy Legal Director Molly Biklen. "The idea behind the tiered approach is really to sort of have a structure in place to respond to protests in a way that is actually consistent with the facts on the ground."
Derrick Ingram and Kimberley Bernard organized many of the near-daily demonstrations in 2020.
"They're the ones who are policing themselves, and oftentimes, they make the decision to act in a very heavy-handed and aggressive manner towards protesters," Bernard said.
In the agreement, the NYPD must create a senior-level role. That person will oversee all protest-related activities and work with the attorney general's office and Department of Investigations to monitor police compliance.
"We want a level of police oversight that's independent of the NYPD," Ingram said.
In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams said in part, "Our administration is committed to improving our policies to keep New Yorkers safe and protect their civil liberties."
Meanwhile, Patrick Hendry, the president of the PBA, the police officers' union, said, "The PBA will not join in this settlement agreement, because we have serious concerns about its impact on the safety of police officers and all New Yorkers in future situations involving coordinated violent actions."
"New Yorkers, we will now have the strongest protections in the country for our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly," Martinez said.
While both the detectives' and sergeants' unions have agreed to this, the PBA says it is objecting to the agreement, so now it's up to a judge to approve the settlement regardless or ask it to be modified. The New York Civil Liberties Union says they're not concerned.