New York, December 22 (RHC)-- A new watchdog report finds New York police officers used excessive force and were unprepared to respond to racial justice protests that rose up this summer following the police killing of George Floyd. 

Over 2,000 people were arrested at protests in May and June as a stream of reports and videos of police violence circulated online. 

New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett told reporters: “Tactics, which included encirclement, also known as kettling; mass arrests; baton and pepper spray use and other tactics, reflected a failure to calibrate an appropriate balance between valid public safety or officer safety interests and the rights of protesters to assemble and to express their views.”

In related news, a Boston police sergeant has been put on leave as an investigation is carried out into abuses during Black Lives Matter protests in Boston.  The media outlet The Appeal last week published a report and bodycam footage showing police officers used excessive force on demonstrators, including liberal use of pepper spray, and boasted about attacking protesters.