DOI seeking public's assistance with reviewing how the NYPD polices protests

The NYC Department of Investigation has put out an open call for information about how the NYPD responds to protests and is using an online portal to gather more from people who have their own accounts of the incidents.

- By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News staff

People participate in a Caribbean-led Black Lives Matter rally on June 14, 2020, at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willen, File)

(AP Photo/Kathy Willen, File)

“We're open to hearing from anyone, including people who think that a protest was handled particularly well,” said Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber. “But what we would expect is to get anyone who is a witness to or has heard from someone else that a protest was not handled appropriately, based on what they observed. What we're going to be looking at is how the department’s conduct measures up to the policies and standards it has now set for itself in policing protests.

“But obviously, people are not going to necessarily be familiar with those standards, and that’s fine. They're going to be reporting like they normally would on any conduct that they feel is of concern: inappropriate handling of crowds, inappropriate interactions with individual protesters, really anything along those lines.”