Senior NYPD officials committed a number of serious errors in their response to this summer’s protests against racist police violence, including deploying officers without proper training, and relying on faulty intelligence that undermined the rights of New Yorkers to peacefully assemble, according to an independent report from the city’s Department of Investigation.
The report calls on the NYPD to clarify and expand on its protest policing guidelines by reevaluating the role of the notorious Strategic Response Group, while consolidating existing police oversight into a single agency. It stops short of faulting specific police leaders, including Commissioner Dermot Shea, for any role in the documented “deficiencies.”
The investigation, commissioned by Mayor Bill de Blasio in May, found that the NYPD lacked a clearly defined strategy for handling the mass demonstrations that roiled New York City in the days after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis. Instead, the department defaulted to a haphazard application of “disorder control,” the report concluded, leading to “excessive enforcement that contributed to heightened tensions.”
Such tactics included mass arrests, baton and pepper spray use, and “kettling” — a controversial practice of encircling and trapping demonstrators, which top NYPD leaders repeatedly denied using, despite clear evidence that contradicted their claims.
In a pre-recorded statement, Mayor de Blasio said that he had read and agreed with the report.
"Its a season of reflection right now. That's what the holidays are. I'm reflecting on what happened in May and June and I look back with remorse. I wish I had done better, I want everyone to understand that," the mayor said, without specifically stating what he was apologizing for, or how he would hold the NYPD and himself accountable for those mistakes. "And I'm sorry I didn't do better and I've learned a lot of valuable lessons and I want our police department to do better, and I'm gonna insist upon that."
In one of the most striking uses of police power during the demonstrations, NYPD officers trapped more than 250 protesters who were peacefully marching in Mott Haven, brutalizing them with batons and pepper spray minutes after de Blasio’s curfew, without giving them a chance to disperse. Multiple people were hospitalized and more than 60 were injured in the attack, according to Human Rights Watch, which described the response as a clear and unprovoked violation of international human rights law in their own report.
The DOI also singled out the Mott Haven response, noting that while the NYPD may have had specific intelligence to warrant heightened concerns, “its mass arrest of protesters for curfew violations, in the absence of evidence of actual violence, was disproportionate to the circumstances.”
Mayor de Blasio had previously defended the department’s actions in Mott Haven, later noting that he would reserve judgement until the release of the DOI report.
Asked at a press conference if any of the NYPD's leadership would be reprimanded, disciplined, reassigned, or fired, Mayor de Blasio responded, "We're definitely gonna look at the actions of the individual commanders down to the precinct level. But I think it's fair to say that what's being pointed out here is not so much time for retribution honestly, but time for change."
The report also found that the NYPD’s Community Affairs Bureau, which de Blasio has long touted as a centerpiece of his policing approach, was not involved in the department’s response to the Floyd protests. An executive for the bureau told investigators that he was not contacted by police officials.
In interviews with investigators, NYPD leadership said that they “did not believe officers engaged in widespread excessive force during the protests.” Department leaders also stated that the detention of identified legal observers and street medics was authorized, and claimed that they did not witness a single instance of officers covering their badges — a claim that “strains credulity,” according to the report.
“Aspects of the NYPD’s response to Floyd protests undermine trust and their own legitimacy,” DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said during a press conference on Friday. “The problems went beyond poor judgment or misconduct of individual officers.”
The DOI investigators spoke to Shea, Chief of Department Terence Monahan, and several other police officials for the report, but do not appear to have interviewed any protesters.
Gideon Oliver, a civil rights attorney representing a number of protesters arrested by police, whose work is cited in the DOI report, said the investigation had only gotten to the tip of the iceberg of police misconduct, and failed to offer actual solutions to the problems of over-policing.
“Municipal navel-gazing isn’t going to lead to meaningful changes or increased confidence,” he said. “That can only come from real transparency and community control — this report is neither.”
Laura Pitter, deputy director of the US program at Human Rights Watch, which issued its own report showing how the NYPD committed human rights violations in Mott Haven, agreed that the DOI’s recommendations “fall short of what is required.”
“The protesters, observers, medics and others who were beaten, pepper sprayed, and arbitrarily detained for exercising their First Amendment rights continue to be denied justice,” Pitter said. “We urge Mayor de Blasio to take urgent action to appropriately discipline those most responsible. If he fails to do so, he too should be held to account.”
In a statement, Commissioner Shea said he had reviewed the report, and planned to accept its recommendations.
“In general terms the report captured the difficult period that took place in May/June of 2020 and presents 20 logical and thoughtful recommendations that I intend to incorporate into our future policy and training,” he said.