Resource: SCHILLER ET AL. V. NYC/DINLER ET AL. V. NYC (CHALLENGING FINGERPRINTING AND DETENTION DURING REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION)

These cases challenge fingerprint and detention practices used by the NYPD during the 2004 Republican National Convention as violations of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution and as violations of state law. Between Aug. 26 and Sept. 2, 2004, hundreds of thousands of people protested outside of the Republican National Convention in New York City. During that period, the NYPD deployed mass-arrest policies and practices at demonstrations (including the use of netting to effect arrests) that resulted in the unlawful arrests of bystanders, non-participating observers, and law-abiding demonstrators. The arrestees were then detained, without justification, by the NYPD for prolonged periods (sometimes for more than 36 hours) in unhealthy and perhaps dangerous conditions. Furthermore, the NYPD systematically fingerprinted all the arrestees and forwarded those fingerprints to law enforcement agencies for improper entry into government databases.