It's not surprising when the NYCLU will sue the NYPD over its heavy-handed tactics and surveillance methods, but it is interesting when police officers sue over their department over the exact same thing. The NY Times looks at another Example of how the NYPD has a lot of latitude when it comes to monitoring protest activity. And the whole "police officers going undercover" to spy on protesters comes up again as a violation of the Constitution. In fact, the lawsuit questions the kinds of methods the NYPD has been granted in the post-September 11 world, and claims that the NYPD started to clamp down on NYPD protests when a few pre-Republican National Convention protests embarrassed Mayor Bloomberg. It all boils down to the RNC and Bloomby, doesn't it.
If you're at all interested in the fate of the civilian lawsuits, we recommend that you check out this article, because it puts the problem in the agency-context, employees really living in a 1984 world. And here are pertinent lawsuits the NYCLU has against the city: Handschu, Schiller/Dinler.
