Attorney General James Announces Landmark Agreement with City of Saratoga Springs to Reform Police Response to Protests

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a landmark agreement to overhaul how the City of Saratoga Springs responds to protests and other First Amendment activity. An Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation found that Saratoga Springs violated the constitutional rights of protesters by retaliating against protected speech, making unjustified arrests, conducting improper surveillance, and failing to discipline officer misconduct. Following OAG’s investigation, the city must overhaul its internal affairs and police response practices, establish new training and accountability mechanisms, and take steps to ensure that residents can exercise their First Amendment rights free from retaliation or unnecessary police intervention. The reforms now required in Saratoga Springs are among the most extensive ever secured by Attorney General James to protect First Amendment activity. 

“New Yorkers have the fundamental right to speak out, organize, and protest without fear of unlawful interruption or retaliation,” said Attorney General James. “Our investigation found that Saratoga Springs repeatedly violated those rights and targeted protesters because of their message. This agreement is a significant step toward rebuilding trust between the Saratoga Springs community and its police force and will ensure everyone is able to safely express their beliefs.” 

The OAG launched an investigation into the Saratoga Springs Police Department’s (SSPD) policing practices in late 2021 following reports that the department had made unlawful arrests in retaliation for protected First Amendment activity. After an extensive review of hundreds of thousands of documents and text messages, numerous witness interviews, and sworn examinations of city and department officials, the OAG determined that the city and SSPD targeted protected expression and retaliated against Black Lives Matter protesters because of their message. The OAG found that the city arrested protest leaders without any justification, directed arrests based on false statements and inconsistencies the city failed to correct, and conducted surveillance on protesters despite having no lawful basis to do so. One official even referred a protest leader’s family to Child Protective Services without cause. Elected officials were able to improperly pressure police to arrest specific protest leaders and retaliate against critics, and the OAG found that SSPD repeatedly failed to discipline officers for misconduct in violation of its own established policies. 

OVERVIEW OF REFORMS 

Protecting First Amendment Rights
Saratoga Springs must adopt detailed policies recognizing that local governments have a constitutional obligation to protect protest activity and refrain from retaliation. The city cannot impose unnecessary limits on demonstrations, and any rules governing when or where protests occur must be fair, reasonable, and applied equally to everyone.

Tiered Policing Response 
Saratoga Springs must implement a four-tier system to ensure that policing decisions reflect actual safety needs, and are not influenced by political pressure from local officials. The default response to protests cannot be a large deployment of officers. At every tier, officers must attempt de-escalation and facilitation before escalating police presence or enforcement. 

• Tier One: SSPD must take reasonable steps to facilitate First Amendment activity. Protest liaisons, trained in communication and de-escalation, will serve as the primary point of contact with demonstrators. Officers may reroute traffic as needed to support safe protest activity.  
• Tier Two: SSPD may move to Tier Two only when credible, specific information suggests a need for additional resources to protect safety, such as the arrival of counter-protesters or a credible threat of violence. The department must continue to facilitate protest activity and maintain direct communication with demonstrators. The department may station additional officers in the vicinity of the protest to facilitate de-escalation, observation, and traffic control.
• Tier Three: SSPD may move to Tier Three when criminal activity is ongoing and targeted arrests are necessary. Arrests for lower-level offenses, including disorderly conduct, may only occur after three clearly audible warnings and with authorization from the Police Chief or designee.
• Tier Four: SSPD may move to Tier Four if demonstrators do not comply with lawful dispersal orders issued at Tier Three. Dispersal orders must be clear and audible, issued at least three times with five-minute intervals when feasible, and must clearly identify exit routes. The SSPD must document the factual basis for all decisions to escalate or disperse. 

Political Interference and Retaliation
Elected officials, their staff, and their agents may not order or pressure police to investigate or arrest people because of what they said at a protest or city council meeting. Elected officials are prohibited from using Child Protective Services as a tool of retaliation. Deployment decisions, arrests, and use of force during demonstrations must be the responsibility of the police chief, free from any political interference. To prevent retaliatory enforcement, SSPD cannot pursue low-level charges for conduct at a protest after an event has ended unless an independent oversight official first approves the charges. This safeguard ensures that minor offenses cannot be used later as a means of punishment for protected speech. 

Surveillance and Use of Force
The SSPD must reform its surveillance and use-of-force practices. The department cannot surveil individuals or groups solely because they participated in a protest or other First Amendment activity. Mounted officers may not be used for crowd control except in emergencies and consistent with written policy, and horses must be positioned in the back ranks, not deployed against crowds. Body-worn camera footage cannot be used to identify demonstrators unless tied to serious crimes, intentional property damage, or investigations of police misconduct. 

Training
The city must provide regular training on de-escalation, bias prevention, community policing, and the policing of First Amendment activities, including how to manage demonstrations in ways that protect the rights of participants while maintaining public safety. 

City Code Amendments
The city must amend its code to allow spontaneous demonstrations when news or events arise quickly, ensuring that residents can respond in real time without facing criminal penalties. The city must eliminate criminal sanctions tied to failing to obtain a protest permit and may only impose reasonable civil fines for violations. 

Transparency and Accountability
The city must strengthen its internal affairs process by designating trained investigators to review allegations of misconduct. The SSPD must prepare after-action reports following every demonstration where officers are deployed, and the city must submit annual compliance reports to OAG. To prevent the concealment of misconduct, the city must adopt modern systems to preserve official communications – including texts, emails, and other messages – and prohibit the deletion or concealment of records tied to official duties. The agreement ensures that public records tied to protest policing are preserved and available for lawful review. 

Access to Public Meetings and Court Proceedings
The agreement ensures that residents can participate in public city council meetings without facing retaliation or improper interference. The city must clearly communicate meeting rules, apply them fairly and without regard to viewpoint, and rely on de-escalation before taking enforcement actions. Individuals may not be barred or investigated simply because of the content of their speech, and police may only intervene when there is a clear and documented threat to safety or order. The city is prohibited from closing its courtrooms to protesters or restricting attendance at public hearings, to ensure residents can monitor legal proceedings related to protest enforcement. 

This matter was handled by Civil Rights Bureau Section Chief Rick Sawyer, Assistant Attorney General Kyle Rapiñan, Research Analyst Joseph Flores, Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Casandra Walker, Civil Rights Bureau Chief Sandra Park, and Law Enforcement Misconduct and Investigative Office Bureau Chief Tyler Nims.  The Civil Rights Bureau and Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office are part of the Division for Social Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.  

###