A court-ordered plan to overhaul how the NYPD responds to protests survived a challenge from the city’s largest police union and will be implemented in the coming months, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
That means police will no longer be allowed to use a controversial tactic called “kettling,” where officers encircle protesters before making a mass arrest. The department will also be required to form an oversight committee to evaluate how officers act at demonstrations.
The settlement aims to protect New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights to peacefully protest and ensure that officers respond to demonstrations responsibly. It comes in response to lawsuits filed against the NYPD in the wake of citywide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. State Attorney General Letitia James, the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union and private attorneys accused the police department of wrongfully arresting people and using excessive force against nonviolent protesters.
A judge initially signed off on the deal in September. But the Police Benevolent Association, which represents rank-and-file officers, later asked the court to throw out the settlement, arguing it could endanger police. In response, Judge Colleen McMahon ruled on Wednesday that the PBA could not derail a deal that was already agreed upon by all the other parties, including the police department.
Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society, which helped to negotiate the settlement, celebrated the judge’s decision and dismissed the police union’s last-minute objection as a “baseless Hail Mary” meant to stop systemic change.
“We know the NYPD cannot police itself, and we won’t let the PBA destroy a commonsense settlement to address the violence and reckless over-policing New Yorkers experienced firsthand when standing up for Black lives in the summer of 2020,” Deputy Legal Director Molly Biklen and Staff Attorney Jennvine Wong said in a statement….
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