The New York
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and activists
with Millions March NYC sued the New York Police Department after the
department refused to confirm or deny the existence of records on
Black Lives Matter activists.
Mariko
Hirose, a senior staff attorney for the New York chapter, said, “New
York City should be doing what it can to protect people’s right to
engage in political protests. The last thing the police department
should be doing is finding new loopholes to conceal from activists
whether or not they are interfering with protests and organizing.”
Millions
March NYC and organizers Vienna Rye, Arminta Jeffryes and Nabil
Hassein filed a routine record request under the state’s freedom of
information law. They sought records that might reveal why multiple
activists had “strange problems” with their cell phones at Black
Lives Matter protests.
A request
asked for any records the NYPD might have on “the use of technology
to interfere with the use of cell phones by protestors,” according
to the lawsuit. It also asked for records on monitoring of social
media accounts of protestors, the “acquisition of contents” of
any of the organizers’ cell phones, and any documents the NYPD
might have on the protest or organizing activities of Millions March
NYC.
The NYPD
replied with a Glomar response, stating it refused to confirm or deny
the records existed. The NYCLU describes Glomar as a “federally
judicially crafted doctrine that is inconsistent with the structure
and purpose” of New York’s freedom of information law.
“This type
of response is clearly unwarranted and unlawful,” the lawsuit
states.
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