CURB the NYPD’s Abuse of Protesters

Act Now

The NYPD’s abusive policing of protest has long been a source of criticism and constant lawsuits, including from us. In 2015, the NYPD’s over the top response to protest took on its newest form: the Strategic Response Group (SRG).

The SRG is a notoriously violent unit with a bloated budget, biased training, and a well-documented pattern of brutalizing New Yorkers exercising their core First Amendment right to protest.

ADD MY NAME: Tell the City Council to pass the Communities United to Reject Brutality (CURB) Act, which will protect New Yorkers’ rights to protest by reining in the NYPD’s most abusive tactics.

Message Recipients:
Mayor Eric Adams
Speaker Adrienne E. Adams
Dr. Yusef Salaam, New York City Council Committee on Public Safety Chair
Members of the New York City Council Committee on Public Safety

Protestor with a megaphone in the foreground. NYPD Strategic Response Group offices are in the background.
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Your Message
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The NYPD’s abusive policing of protest has long been a source of criticism and constant lawsuits, including from us. In 2015, the NYPD’s over the top response to protest took on its newest form: the Strategic Response Group (SRG).

The SRG is a notoriously violent unit with a bloated budget, biased training, and a well-documented pattern of brutalizing New Yorkers exercising their core First Amendment right to protest. With Trump in office, there are new reasons to take to the streets every day. I’m writing to ask you to pass a critical bill that will ensure New Yorkers can safely engage in peaceful protest to make their voices heard.

The Communities United to Reject Brutality (CURB) Act (Intro. 1176) will protect New Yorkers’ rights to protest by reining in the NYPD’s most abusive tactics.

Millions of taxpayer dollars have gone to the SRG’s budget, and millions more have been spent on legal settlements stemming from misconduct. This – and the unit’s rampant violence – has led to calls to disband the SRG and reinvest the unit’s bloated budget in programs and services that actually keep New Yorkers safe. And while it is critical to disband the SRG, it is just as important to ensure that the aggressive tactics it so often employs are not simply redeployed by other NYPD units and officers under another name.

The CURB Act will end the SRG’s deployment at protests and ban the unit’s most notorious, aggressive, and unwarranted tactics. The bill will also create new mechanisms to keep tabs on how the NYPD handles protests.

I am counting on you to curtail the NYPD’s abuse by passing the CURB Act.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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