New Report Highlights NYPD Community Response Team’s Pattern of Abuse  

NEW YORK CITY – A new report by ProPublica raises the alarm about the Community Response Team, a specialized unit of the New York City Police Department closely tied to Mayor Adams and tasked with cracking down on low-level offenses. In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union released the following statement attributable to Assistant Policy Director Michael Sisitzky: 

“The NYPD’s so-called Community Response Team, like other revamped anti-crime units, may have a new name and a new uniform, but they continue to engage in a pattern of abusing New Yorkers, especially people of color. By doing so, they are perpetuating a harmful legacy of unlawful policing that has killed New Yorkers.   

“Mayor Adams has reportedly given this unit carte blanche to carry out his harmful policing agenda, from targeting pro-Palestine protestors to unlawfully stopping Black and Brown New Yorkers.   

“As Trump is pushing for more police impunity across the country, it is alarming that our city’s leadership is ignoring the lessons we should have learned from decades of police abuse. It’s time to dismantle this unit, stop wasting resources on ineffective and harmful policing tactics and instead invest in our communities.” 

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