Changes in Wikipedia Pages on Police-Brutality Cases Linked to NYPD: Report

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March 13, 2015

By Breanna Edwards, theRoot.com

The NYPD’s computer network at 1 Police Plaza headquarters has been used to make changes or attempt to delete Wikipedia pages about controversial cases from Sean Bell to Eric Garner.

A protest against the death of Eric Garner on July 19, 2014.

A Staten Island protest against the death of Eric Garner on July 19, 2014.

…IP addresses in the computer network at the NYPD’s 1 Police Plaza headquarters have been linked to edits and changes (even attempted deletions) to pages surrounding cases such as Eric Garner, Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, all of whom lost their lives in officer-involved incidents.

…At least 85 NYPD IP addresses… have edited Wikipedia pages, but it is uncertain as to how many people are involved.

The IP addresses have also been used to edit posts on stop and frisk and other controversial topics.

Specific changes made to the entry relating to the death of Staten Island dad Eric Garner… include the word “chokehold” being changed twice, once to “respiratory distress” and in another case to “chokehold or headlock.”

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