NYPD caught red-handed sanitizing police brutality Wikipedia entries

IP addresses linked to the New York Police Department's computer network have been used to sanitize Wikipedia entries about cases of police brutality.

This wouldn't be the first time we've seen nefarious alterations to Wikipedia entries, and it won't be the last. But the disclosure of NYPD's entries by Capital New York come as the Justice Department announced a national initiative for "building community trust and justice" with the nation's policing agencies.

As many as 85 IP addresses connected to 1 Police Plaza altered entries for some of the most high-profile police abuse cases, including those for victims Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo, Capital New York said. Edits have also been made to other entries covering NYPD scandals, its stop-and-frisk program, and the department leadership.

One of the most brazen alterations concerned Eric Garner, who was killed by police last year during an arrest that was captured on video by an onlooker. The mobile phone video went viral, prompting widespread protests and a grand jury investigation. On December 3, the Staten Island grand jury agreed not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in connection to Garner's death, despite the medical examiner ruling it a homicide. The same day as the grand jury announcement, the "Death of Eric Garner" page on Wikipedia was altered from IP addresses traced to 1 Police Plaza. Those alterations can be seen here and here.

One of the edits changed "Garner raised both his arms in the air" to "Garner flailed his arms about as he spoke." Another line that said "push Garner's face into the sidewalk" changed to "push Garner's head down into the sidewalk." The word "chokehold," Capital New York discovered, was twice replaced to "chokehold or headlock" and to "respiratory distress."

A NYPD spokeswoman said the "matter is under internal review."

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