When protesters took to the streets final winter to decry the deaths of Eric Garner and other black men killed by police,undercover officers with the MTA were in attendance. That's according to documents obtained by the news website, The Intercept. The documents also indicate that police possess monitored activists, or keeping photos of them on file and tracking their movements. Such efforts could be in violation of the decades-venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) Handschu agreement which restricts the surveillance of political groups by the city.
In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks,the NYPD went to court in 2003 and asked that the Handschu agreement be altered, arguing it was too restrictive. It was subsequently modified."I think one of the reason we possess this ongoing Handschu strife is because the guidelines were weakened in 2003, and " said Steve Zeidman,professor of law at the City University of New York. "That gave the police more room, it opened the door a little and they possess sprint through it."Zeidman spoke with WNYC's Soterios Johnson.
Source: wnyc.org