The New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group (SRG) is a unit of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) formed in 2015 for counter-terrorism and the policing of political protests. They maintain a bike squadron and are outfitted with anti-riot gear, rifles, and body armor. The unit has been criticized for its use of excessive force and mass arrests against political demonstrators protected under the First Amendment, disproportionately high numbers of complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and the killing of unarmed men, among other things. Activists, the New York City Council, the New York City Department of Investigation, and organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the New York Civil Liberties Union, among others, have called for its regulation or disbandment.
History (2014 - 2019)
In January 2014, NYPD Police Commissioner William J. Bratton announced plans to create the SRG, a 300-350 officer unit equipped with machine guns, long rifles, and heavy protective gear that would be dedicated to counter-terrorism and policing protests. Bratton also announced the SRG would be partially funded by the Department of Homeland Security. After public backlash, Chief of Department James O'Neill stated the SRG would not be involved in handling political demonstrations. Bratton then announced approximately 300 officers dedicated to counter-terrorism would augment the NYPD Emergency Service Unit while the "Strategic Response Group" would refer to approximately 500 officers dedicated to handling protests as well as reinforcing precincts in need of back-up. He stated that they would no longer be equipped with machine guns, though the SRG were still trained to use and outfitted with semiautomatic rifles.
In March 2015, the NY chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild released a statement saying "the plain intent of [SRG] is to suffociate political dissent". In September, Deputy Inspector Andrew J. Lombardo, a prominent officer involved in policing protests in NYC who had been frequently accused of targeting and interrogating protestors, was assigned to the SRG as a "supervisor".
By the end of 2015, the SRG had been deployed to suppress multiple Black Lives Matter protests, sometimes using military grade Long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) and aggressively arresting demonstrators and members of the press. The SRG also increased in size to approximately 800 officers. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) stated it would keep watch on the SRG. The Verge obtained NYPD documents showing police camera teams were deployed to hundreds of BLM and Occupy Wall Street protests. Lombardo requested NYPD videos of "mass arrests" at a December 4, 2014 BLM protest despite not being a member of the NYPD Legal Bureau. The SRG gained a reputation among activists in the city as the "goon squad".
In December 2017, the SRG initiated a no-knock raid wherein an officer shot and killed Mario Sanabria, a 69-year-old resident, who they claimed had attacked them with a sword. Sanabria's family and roommate have insisted he didn't and that the NYPD had acted on a bad tip from a confidential informant.
In January 2018, the SRG cleared people protesting the deportation of Ravidath Ragbir by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ragbir is an immigrant rights activist and head of the New Sanctuary Coalition, an organization that legally aids immigrants seeking asylum. The SRG violently arrested 18 protestors during the event. New York City Council members held an oversight hearing questioning NYPD officials about the incident. NYPD refused to comment on the unit's involvement. One officer was transferred out of the unit and stripped of 30 vacation days after a departmental investigation found him guilty of "using excessive force to clear a crowd of protestors". He had been caught on video throttling at least two protestors.
In April, NYPD officers including members of the SRG fatally shot and killed Saheed Vassell, an unarmed homeless man in Brooklyn. Days later, during a march demanding justice for Vassell, the SRG attended to intimidate the protestors. Vassell's father met with New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood to discuss charges against the officers.