NYC’s Department of Investigation found in its 115-page analysis that NYPD officers were undertrained and underprepared in their handling of protests and civil unrest and that they often engaged in “excessive enforcement” and actions that were, “at a minimum, unprofessional and, at worst, unjustified excessive force or abuse of authority.”
In its summary, the report acknowledges that the protests “were sparked by Floyd’s death, but quickly expanded to embrace broader concerns about systemic racism in law enforcement and whether police are held accountable for excessive force.” The report also mentioned that protests in NYC were “largely peaceful and the actions of most police officers were appropriate,” but in the cases where things turned chaotic, events were plagued with “widespread allegations that police had used excessive tactics against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.”
Ultimately, the report found that most of the more than 2,000 New Yorkers who were arrested during demonstrations were peaceful protesters.
“But the problems went beyond poor judgment or misconduct by some individual officers,” the reports stated. “The department itself made a number of key errors or omissions that likely escalated tensions, and certainly contributed to both the perception and the reality that the department was suppressing rather than facilitating lawful First Amendment assembly and expression.”
Much of the criticism in the report was leveled at NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio—blaming his directives, in part, for why police oversight of protests was handled so badly in some instances. Interestingly enough, de Blasio appears to agree with the criticism.
“I read this report and I agree with it,” de Blasio said in a statement, according to the New York Times. “It makes very clear we’ve got to do something different, and we’ve got to do something better. I look back with remorse. I wish I had done better. I want everyone to understand that. And I’m sorry I didn’t do better.”

Investigation Report Says NYPD's 'Excessive Enforcement' Contributed to Violence During George Floyd Protests
Conservative America would have you believe that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization and that every BLM protest is a stage for violence, looting and assaults on police officers—despite the fact that a strong majority of protests against systemic racism in policing aren’t violent at...
