Inside the Special NYPD Unit That’s Brutalizing Protesters

Rights This Way

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1+ y ago 33:01

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The NYPD's Strategic Response Group (SRG) is a notoriously violent rapid response unit. Despite promises from the department that the unit would not be deployed at protests, the SRG has consistently threatened, attacked, and arrested protesters. Time and time again, when the SRG arrives on the scene, officers escalate situations and injure New Yorkers who are exercising their First Amendment rights.

Since we recorded this episode, the NYCLU, the Legal Aid Society and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a sweeping settlement agreement that could help transform the way the NYPD polices protests. The settlement – which must still be approved by a judge before it can go into effect – is designed to reduce the presence of police at protests and to lessen the kinds of harms that officers often cause at demonstrations.

The settlement does this through a tiered system that dictates when, how many, and which kinds of officers can be sent to protests. Importantly, under the agreement, the NYPD will only be allowed to deploy the SRG under certain conditions. We hope this will cut down on misconduct, violence, and unjustified detentions.

But, While the settlement should reduce the role the Strategic Response Group plays in protests, we know that the only way to put an end to the SRG’s abuse is to put an end to the unit itself. We will continue to fight to disband the SRG and reinvest its estimated $133 Million in funds into our communities. And until that happens, this episode is as relevant as ever.

To discuss the SRG and protesters’ rights more generally, we speak with Isabelle Leyva, senior organizer with the NYCLU, and New York City public defender Alex Clavering (@LolOverruled).

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Resources:

Tell lawmakers to disband the SRG: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/disband-nypds-strategic-response-group

Join our campaign to disband the SRG: https://secure.everyaction.com/_duTyjNjiE6dhD9xewdSSQ2

Follow Alex (@LolOverruled) on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.