Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYPD Releases All 2004 RNC-Related Documents
By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The NYPD decided not to appeal a judge's decision that the NYPD should declassify its surveillance documents from the 2004 RNC, so it has set up a special NYPD RNC Documents website with the documents. Of course, you have to scroll down to the very bottom for a zip file of the 600 pages of documents. And what's above the documents is the NYPD's rather thorough explanation/ defense justifying why it did such extensive surveillance of disparate groups and people, listing various terror incidents between 2001 and the convention as well as other incidents of protest. Here is Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's statement:
“I think a close examination of the documents is going to show that the New York City Police Department did an outstanding job in protecting the City during the Republican National Convention. People wanted to come here and shut down the City, to replicate what happened in Seattle, Montreal and Genoa. We simply didn't let that happen, and I think it'll just underscore the outstanding work of the men and women of the Department. In terms of gathering information, the vast majority of information that was gathered was open-source information. It was gathered from the Internet; these groups that were coming here were advertising what they were going to do — bragging about what they were going to do. It wasn't particularly difficult to get the vast majority of this information.”
Good to know that the NYPD is watching all of us, including MSNBC and the Sierra Club. The NY Times has all the documents plus highlights which people and/or groups were mentioned in the documents. Here are but a few:
ACT UP, Sierra Club, City Council members (Charles Barron, David Weprin, Bill Perkins), Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Johnny Cash Bloc, MSNBC, A31 Coalition, NYCLU, NOW, Planned Parenthood, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Stuyvesant High School Students, Westboro Baptist Church, Indymedia, Democratic National Committee, Coalition of Fire and Police Unions, Grandmothers Against War, Falun Gong, Arab Muslim American Foundation, Time's Up, Billionaires For Bush, United for Peace and Justice, The Surveillance Camera Players, ACLU, Hip Hop Summit Action Network, The Federation of East Village Artists, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York
The NYCLU's executive director Donna Lieberman said, "These documents paint a picture of a surveillance program that was broad, clumsy, and often unlawful. The NYPD failed to differentiate between unlawful behavior and behavior that is not only lawful but should in fact be cherished and protected. Today the public can finally bear witness to that failure." The NYCLU also offers an index of the groups monitored as well as the documents released yesterday, plus others previously released.
And City Councilman Charles Barron told the NY Times' Sewell Chan, "First of all, I’m going to be getting some legal advice. I’m not going to let this go. This is ridiculous that you would spy on democratic, legal, political activity. This smacks of former fascism. It certainly is selective spying. It is absurd that people in this city can’t exercise their constitutional right to protest without being spied on by the police."
Photograph by ireallylovecake on Flickr
Tagged
hip hop
New York City Police Department
stuyvesant high school
nypd
advice
bush
The NYPD
club
high school
Charles Barron
The NYCLU
Sierra Club
City Councilman Charles Barron
ny times
police commissioner ray kelly
human rights
commissioner ray kelly
david weprin
fire
advertising
seattle
Ray Kelly
police
republican national convention
News: NYC
National Committee
terror
convention
david
The Police
war
gun
church
police commissioner
police department
new york
internet
the ny times
City Councilman
restaurant
poor people
protest
City Council
people
city
flickr
Councilman Charles Barron
east village
stuyvesant high
Sewell Chan
new york city
republican
Democratic National Committee
blogs
The NY
planned parenthood
Donna Lieberman
human rights campaign
Falun Gong
johnny cash
act up
photos
new yorkers
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Peepapalooza: NYC is heading to the Hudson Valley to watch the leaves
Don't be surprised if you run into someone from your building in Beacon.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
Sean Carlson
Published Oct 24, 2026 at 10:46 a.m. ET
NYPD: Officer shot, injured knife-wielding woman during ‘chaotic’ night at Queens home
The woman is in stable condition, police said, but several people were stabbed.
By
Ryan Kost
News
NYPD: Officer shot, injured knife-wielding woman during ‘chaotic’ night at Queens home
The woman is in stable condition, police said, but several people were stabbed.
By
Ryan Kost
3 slates vying to run Jersey City school board as city stares down major tax hikes
By
Michael Sol Warren
5 men charged with trespassing in 2 Manhattan manhole cases
By
Charles Lane
6-year-old girl breaks leg after getting hit by falling bricks in Queens
By
Charles Lane
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .