NYCLU releases NYPD RNC docs
New York Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004 www.nyclu.org
NYCLU Releases RNC Documents City Tried to Conceal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2007 — After a federal judge last month ruled that New
York City could stop the New York Civil Liberties Union from sharing
with the public reams of documents and dozens of hours of video about
the NYPD’s policing of the 2004 Republican National Convention, the
NYCLU today made those documents available to the public by posting
them on its website at http://www.nyclu.org/rncdocs.
The judge’s ruling came in litigation filed by the New York Civil
Liberties Union. The NYCLU’s two post-RNC lawsuits challenge mass
arrests and detentions during the 2004 Republican National
Convention. The documents and videos were obtained by the NYCLU in
pre-trial discovery. New York City said the documents in question
were secret and could not be shared; the NYCLU countered that there
was nothing sensitive about the documents and that they should be
part of the public record. The judge, James C. Francis IV, ruled on
the side of the NYCLU. The City did not appeal.
The documents illuminate the policing of the Convention. Highlights
include:
The Pier 57 NYPD Officer Medical Reports, which were filed with the
NYPD’s own medical division by 40 of the NYPD’s own officers. NYPD
complainants (whose names are redacted) report that they were exposed
to various harmful substances - including asbestos, carbon monoxide,
unidentified fumes, and an unidentified black liquid - while assigned
to Pier 57 during the Convention. The reports indicate that
protesters’ concerns about conditions of detention at Pier 57 were
shared by the officers assigned to the area.The RNC No-Summons Memo of May 4, 2004, which announces that NYPD
officers would not give summonses to protestors during the
Convention, instead arresting and fingerprinting them. This policy
caused lengthy detentions of demonstrators; without it, 1500 of the
1800 arrestees would have been eligible for summons and quick release.The RNC Arrest-to-Arraignment Charts, which show that RNC arrestees
were arraigned much more slowly than non-RNC arrestees during the
week of the Convention. The charts raise troubling questions as to
why protesters arrested for minor offenses were being held much
longer than people arrested for serious crimes during the Convention.
“The public has a right to see these documents,” said NYCLU Director
Donna Lieberman. “The court recognized that democracy dies behind
closed doors, and today we carry out that court’s mandate to keep it
alive.”
The documents are organized on the NYCLU’s website at the dedicated
page www.nyclu.org/rncdocs. The NYCLU intends to place the videos
online as soon as possible.
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