Exclusive: Internal NYPD documents shed new light on the Strategic Response Group, the heavily militarized police unit behind the crackdown on George Floyd protesters. interc.pt/3fQC6ps
In Brooklyn, on May 30, an officer pulled down a man’s Covid-19 mask and pepper-sprayed him at close range, bragging about it to fellow officers but failing to provide the man with medical assistance, as required by police regulations.
State investigators found police regularly and unjustifiably used force against peaceful protesters. They beat people with blunt instruments at least 50 times, unlawfully pepper-sprayed them in at least 30 instances, and pushed or struck protesters at least 75 times.
Leading the violent crackdown was the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, or SRG, a heavily militarized, rapid-response unit of several hundred officers founded in 2015 to deal with public disorder events and terrorist acts.
Civil rights advocates have objected to the deployment of the SRG to protests, and the former NYPD chief of department and later Commissioner James O’Neill gave a pledge that the SRG would “not be involved in handling protests and demonstrations.” 
O’Neill's pledge turned out to be hollow. That same year, the SRG was deployed against Black Lives Matter protesters.
Since then, the unit’s armor-clad officers have become a regular presence at protests, where they stand out for their confrontational and aggressive tactics.
Since then, the unit’s armor-clad officers have become a regular presence at protests, where they stand out for their confrontational and aggressive tactics.
On paper, the SRG’s formations may seem well organized, but in practice, their execution is violent and chaotic.
At a September demonstration in Times Square, SRG officers encircled a group of people protesting ICE before they had even started moving.
At a September demonstration in Times Square, SRG officers encircled a group of people protesting ICE before they had even started moving.
“The moment the bikes lined up on the street, the NYPD just immediately rushed over, started grabbing people by their hair, like five or six officers per person, throwing people to the ground, arresting all the bicyclists. The protest hadn’t even really started yet.”
NYPD training documents say that in close quarters, the bicycle represents a “force multiplier”: One cop on a bicycle can take the place of three officers with batons.
Investigators found a disproportionate number of SRG officers accused of wrongdoing to have exceeded their legal authority, when compared with the wider department. The group earned a reputation among activists as the NYPD’s “goon squad.”
In a class-action lawsuit, attorneys are seeking damages on behalf of a potentially enormous group of plaintiffs: “all people arrested between May 28 and June 6, as well as all people who have been or will be subjected to the NYPD’s practices of violently disrupting protests.”
Read the full story: theintercept.com/2021/04/07/nyp…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
