New Bill Would Rein in NYPD Strategic Response Group Abuse

NEW YORK CITY – Today, New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé rallied with advocates and protestors to launch the Communities United to Reject Brutality (CURB) Act, new legislation which would stop the New York City Police Department from deploying its militarized unit, the Strategic Response Group (SRG), to protests and other First Amendment-protected activity. The SRG has a history of racial bias, misconduct, and violence against protesters. The NYCLU, which supports the legislation, has long campaigned for the unit to be disbanded.  

“The SRG has a troubling history of cracking down on peaceful protests with extraordinary violence,” said New York City Council member Chi Ossé, who introduced the bill. “Further, the unit has discriminately been deployed and used force with regard to ideology and politics. This is unacceptable and should not be funded by taxpayers. The First Amendment right to assembly is foundational and this bill would serve to defend it.” 

In addition to ending the SRG’s deployment at protests and other First Amendment-protected events, the CURB Act would also ban the NYPD from kettling protesters, deploying tear gas, indiscriminately targeting protesters with pepper spray, and using acoustic weapons. The bill would also prohibit the SRG’s tactic of using bicycles to attack protesters. The legislation would require the NYPD to regularly and publicly report on its deployments to protests, including by providing information about officer misconduct complaints and the department’s response to those complaints. 

“For years, the SRG has been deployed to suppress New Yorkers’ right to dissent, using their militarized equipment and tactics to attack protesters with impunity. With this bill, we are taking action to protect New Yorkers from this unaccountable unit and its most extreme tactics,” said Michael Sisitzky, assistant policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “New Yorkers deserve better than a violent police force eager to violate their right to protest. The City Council must move quickly to pass this legislation and to make investments in real supports for communities rather than continuing to fund the SRG and its abuses.” 

“From Occupy to Black Lives Matter, we’ve seen the abuses and extreme costs to taxpayers of an unchecked response to First Amendment protests to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. The SRG has repeatedly enacted violence on countless New Yorkers, often escalating protests by their presence. The CURB Act solves this problem and finally holds the NYPD accountable for tactical deployments that violate the First Amendment rights of all New Yorkers,” said New York City Council Member Sandy Nurse, Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus. 

“Police brutality and excessive use of force have become fatal tactics to suppress peaceful protest. The NYPD has avoided our hearings in the past, knowing they would face questions about the Strategic Response Group—a branch of the city’s police department cannot aggressively target New Yorkers exercising their rights without facing consequences or oversight,” said New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. “We commend Council Member Ossé’s CURB Act, another tool to protect New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights and commitment to true public safety.” 

The SRG, which includes at least 700 officers, started as a “counter-terrorism” unit a decade ago but was quickly deployed to protests. Its budget has increased from $13 million to $133 million since 2015, with no public oversight. Their members have higher misconduct complaints than the NYPD as a whole, and several SRG officers were involved in the 2018 killing of Black New Yorker Saheed Vassell. The SRG’s pattern of abuse has drawn condemnation from international human rights groups and litigation brought by the NYCLU and Legal Aid Society. In 2021, the NYCLU and more than 70 organizations from across the state launched a campaign to disband the unit and reinvest its funds into community programs and care services. 

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