NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The city Department of Investigation released a 111-page report Friday that found "several deficiencies" in the NYPD's response to George Floyd protests in the city earlier this year.
The report said the response "undermined public confidence in the NYPD's discharge of its responsibility to protect the rights of citizens to engage in lawful protest."
Among the report's conclusions was that the NYPD "lacked a clearly defined strategy tailored to respond to the large-scale protests of police."
The DOI said "the NYPD's use of force and certain crowd control tactics to respond to the Floyd protests produced excessive enforcement that contributed to heightened tensions."
It added that the department "deployed officers who lacked sufficient, or sufficiently recent, training on policing protests."
The report concluded with a call for the NYPD to embrace proposed reforms as part of larger efforts to repair police-community relations.
Earlier this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio directed the DOI to conduct an independent review of the protest response.
The mayor released a video Friday in which he said he supported the findings and recommendations of the report.
"I'm reflecting on what happened in May and June, and I look back with remorse," de Blasio said in the video. "I wish I had done better. I want everyone to understand that. And I'm sorry I didn't do better. And I've learned a lot of valuable lessons. And I want our police department to do better, and I'm going to insist upon that."
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea responded to the report in a statement: "I have reviewed the Department of Investigation report. In general terms the report captured the difficult period that took place in May/June of 2020 and presents 20 logical and thoughtful recommendations that I intend to incorporate into our future policy and training. I'd like to thank DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett and her entire staff for their professionalism during this process."
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch slammed the city after the report was released, saying leaders sent officers out "with no plan, no strategy and no support."
"The DOI report confirms what police officers knew on the first night of riots: our city leaders sent us out with no plan, no strategy and no support to deal with unrest that was fundamentally different from any of the thousands of demonstrations that police officers successfully protect every single year," Lynch said.
"Nearly 400 police officers were injured—struck with bricks, bottles, fire extinguishers and folding chairs—because of the mixed messages emanating from City Hall and Albany," Lynch continued. "No amount of new training or strategizing will help while politicians continue to undermine police officers and embolden those who create chaos on our streets."
