New York police agree to reform protest tactics in settlement over 2020 response

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police department has agreed to establish new protocols intended to safeguard the rights of protesters and reduce the number of officers that respond to most public demonstrations. The settlement agreement was filed in federal court Tuesday in order to settle a lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General stemming from its response to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020. It would require the nation’s largest police department to deploy fewer, less militarized officers to most public protests. And it would end the NYPD’s practice of trapping and arresting large groups of demonstrators, a controversial tactic known as kettling. The agreement must still be approved by a federal judge.