The new “predatory” method of the New York police: disguise yourself as a delivery man

New York City Police (NYPD) officers have adopted a new tactic to “deter criminal activity” on public transportation and surprise offenders. Since mid-June, several photos and videos shared online show agents disguised as mechanics, metro employees or even delivery people. Our Observer denounces a “predatory” method. A video posted on TikTok on June 18 highlights this new practice by the New York police. The person filming, a black man, explains that he was returning home after finishing his work when the two officers stopped him and grabbed a box cutter he was carrying. He assures that this cutter is a working tool. In the caption of the video, he specifies that the scene took place at the Broadway Junction subway station on June 17, 2022, and says that he was “wrongly arrested”. In a few days, his video garnered more than 220,000 views on the social network. Because the most surprising are the outfits of the two agents visible in the video: one wears a black baseball cap and a uniform with the inscription “Volvo”, typical of an auto mechanic. The other wears an orange vest that resembles the uniforms of employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the company that manages the New York subway. The officers both have body cameras, and the former’s police badge is clearly visible. The arrested man asks the officers the reasons for his arrest. At first, the police did not answer him. Then, they end up telling him that he is not allowed to be in possession of a “sharp instrument”. Two other agents arrive as backup (at 2’13 in the video) and it looks like the man is finally handcuffed. “I saw other agents disguised as hotel staff, MTA employees, FedEx, from Amazon, from the United States Postal Service…”Our Observer Michael Clancy is the president of the Copwatch patrol unit in Brooklyn. This activist group is dedicated to monitoring and recording police interactions with citizens in order to expose police slip-ups and brutality. On June 16, Michael Clancy also took a video showing two officers addressing other outfits than those of the police: the first is dressed as an employee of the MTA, the second as a hotel employee. Both officers also have weapons and their police badges. I was on patrol on the L train and got off at the Canarsie stop [à Brooklyn].I saw two people – who appeared to be a hotel employee and an MTA employee – holding an old black man against a trash can, asking him to empty his pockets and show his ID. He was cooperative but seemed confused, looking like he didn’t know what he had done. It seemed strange to me that two people dressed like that were shaking this man. I started filming them. And sure enough, the agent pulled out his badge. When they saw me filming them they let him go I asked them for their name and badge number and found that they were New York police officers, but disguised as employees. Since then, I’ve seen other agents disguised as hotel staff, employees of the MTA, FedEx, Amazon, United States Postal Service, etc. Another photo, shared to social media on June 30, also shows a NYPD officer – whose badge is visible – wearing an Amazon delivery driver uniform, a blue vest with gray stripes across the chest. He watches two other men, who appear to be officers, write tickets for subway passengers. One of the men is in civilian clothes, while the other, with his back to the camera, wears a FedEx deliveryman’s uniform, a black shirt with vertical purple stripes. According to this publication, the photo was taken at the Broadway Myrtle subway station in Brooklyn. A second shot shows these same officers from a different angle: it clearly shows that they are police officers New York wearing deliveryman uniforms, with FedEx and Amazon logos. A “dangerous” method According to Michael Clancy, this technique is new. In his 16 years of experience policing the NYPD, this is the first time he’s seen officers wearing such uniforms: So far [les agents infiltrés] always wore sportswear or a casual shirt, but never a company logo. Now they use corporate logos or other city agencies. This could prove dangerous for the employees of these municipal agencies: someone could, for example, injure a bus driver thinking that he is a police officer in disguise.An Amazon spokesperson, quoted by Vice , assures that he was not aware of the use of his company’s uniform by the police. A FedEx spokesperson declined to comment on the situation. The editorial staff of France 24 Observers contacted the New York City police. A representative responded by email with a statement, “Transit agents conduct plainclothes patrols, due to the specific environment and challenges presented by the New York City transit system. These plainclothes agents focus their efforts on the prevention of criminal acts, such as [ceux commis par] pickpockets and sex offenders. The NYPD continues to conduct enhanced patrol deployments in the subway and remains highly focused on the relatively small number of individuals responsible for much of the crime and disorder in New York City.”New York Mayor, Eric Adams, reinstated the controversial NYPD plainclothes unit in January after it was disbanded in 2020 after it was implicated in a “disproportionate” number of shootings and civilian complaints, according to the police commissioner. New York City Police Human rights advocates have long accused the NYPD’s undercover crime units of using excessive force and targeting racial minorities. civilian unit, initially reestablished to deal with the growing problem of gun violence in New York City, mainly makes small arrests.This strategy is part of the renewed interest of the police of New York for cracking down on “quality of life” crime: this concerns minor offenses, such as urinating on public roads or ticket fraud. According to the NYPD, these operations must have a deterrent effect and make it possible to avoid more serious offenses. “Waiting for a poor guy to jump the turnstile is predation” But for Michael Clancy, these methods mainly help to transform officers as “predatory police”: Do we need security? Yes. But if you really want to stop someone from jumping over the turnstiles, grab a uniformed officer and put them right there. Nobody is going to jump in front of the policeman. But waiting for some poor guy who doesn’t have $2.75 to jump the turnstile because he’s poor or homeless is predation. It’s like a lion waiting for a weakened gazelle to cross Serengeti Park [en Tanzanie, NDLR]Asked by Vice, Michael Sisitzky, senior policy adviser for the New York Civil Liberties Union, is also concerned. “While any encounter between police and members of the public can potentially escalate, that risk can be even greater when people do not realize they are being approached or arrested by a police officer,” he explains. “The deployment of disguised agents” does not “instill confidence in communities already targeted by pervasive surveillance and disproportionate law enforcement”.