arrow Scenes from the June 4, 2020 demonstration in the Bronx C.S. Muncy / Gothamist
The New York City Police Department could be the first in the country to be simultaneously overseen by two separate federal court monitors if state Attorney General Letitia James is successful in her lawsuit over how the agency handles large protests.
But experts warn that won’t be a panacea for everything critics say is wrong with the 36,000-officer force, which James argues is guilty of widespread brutality and violating the rights of protesters during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in summer 2020.
“I certainly cannot think of a single instance in which a police department has had more than one federal monitor at the same time,” said Corey Stoughton, attorney-in-charge of the Law Reform Practice at the Legal Aid Society. “I think it s fair to say that that would be very unusual and possibly unprecedented.”