Videotapes recorded between 2004 and 2005 revealed NYPD officers posing as activists to surveil at least seven Iraq War protest events , including wearing of political pins and participating in mock arrests by riot police . Prior to the 2004 Republican National Convention New York police broadly spied on people planning protests during the convention , and sent undercover officers nationwide to infiltrate various grass-roots political groups . Officials with the city and the Police Department defended their tactics , saying they needed to ferret out potential terrorists and protesters who intended to act violently or to commit vandalism
2004 Republican National Convention
2004 Republican National Convention
Police surveillance in New York City