Progressive Democrat Issue 63: NYC FOCUS

NYC Police Abuses
I saw on Current TV a segment covering NYPD antagonism of a protest leading to violence. It was clear from the segment that the NYPD intentionally antagonized the protestors to create an incident so that they could break up the protest. The segment can be seen on Current TV or on their website.


I also witnessed similar tactics on the part of the NYPD in 2004 when I was participating in protests against the Republican Convention. I should emphasize that MOSTLY the police were perfectly fined during the convention protests. But I did see plain clothes cops on motor scooters actually ride INTO THE CROWD, physically pushing people back, a tactic that clearly is designed to intimidate and antagonize people.

I feel that the NYPD have a tough job. NYC is a tough city to be a police officer given the diversity of cultures, languages and beliefs as well as the population density. But this kind of behavior by the police is illegal and it makes their own job harder by turning peaceful protestors into angry protestors.

Please view the Current TV pod mentioned above, judge for yourself and contact the NYPD to question their practices if you agree that this is inappropriate.

You can also contact the Civilian Complaint Review Board:
(800) 341-CCRB

the NYC Public Advocate’s office:
Public Advocate
Ombudsman (212) 669-7250

And it might be worth contacting New York 1 who should be covering this kind of thing.