The New York Police Department has agreed to change its use-of-force policies in a settlement over four lawsuits stemming from the 2020 protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.

According to the settlement reached with the New York attorney general, the New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the Legal Aid Society, the department will stop encircling protesters en masse and vary its response depending on conditions of the protest. The NYPD will also create a new position to oversee this effort and give broader protection to journalists covering protests.

The settlement, the civil liberties groups say, is a landmark agreement that offers a new form of policing.

“Too often peaceful protesters have been met with force that has harmed innocent New Yorkers simply trying to exercise their rights,” New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said in a statement Tuesday. “Today’s agreement will meaningfully change how the NYPD engages with and responds to public demonstrations in New York City.”

Molly Biklen, the deputy legal director of the NYCLU, said the settlement ensures that the department can’t “indiscriminately deploy” groups that have a track record of escalating force in protests. That includes the Strategic Response Group, which has been criticized for its violent force against protesters.

In summer 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd, millions of demonstrators in thousands of protests across the country called for changes to the justice system and scrutiny of police policies, especially officers’ interactions with people of color. Videos from the time show police brutality across the country, activists say. In Washington, law enforcement officers fired stun grenade shells and rubber bullets into a crowd of hundreds of mostly peaceful demonstrators at Lafayette Square. In New York City, officers clubbed nonviolent protesters several nights in a row.

In the settlement announced Tuesday, the NYPD agreed to limit when it could use force during a demonstration. During peaceful protests, the department said, it will not send units like the Strategic Response Group to interact with protesters, though if criminal activity seemed possible, they could be stationed nearby.

Once authorities have probable cause for arrests, the department can send officers, including from the Strategic Response Group and other specialized units, to address only those committing crimes, according to the settlement. But the department agreed that it would not trap or encircle protesters as a whole without specific cause — a tactic known as “kettling.” They would only do that to a person or group of people who are being arrested.

If a protest gets more out of hand, and people are committing widespread acts of crime or trying to loot buildings, police are allowed to end the demonstration. The NYPD agreed that its officers must make sure everyone in the crowd can hear orders to disperse and clearly identify exit points and locations where protesting might be able to continue.

Police also agreed not to deploy helicopters for intimidation and not to arrest reporters who record police activity. Officers also cannot put up crime scene tape to restrict the news media and must allow journalists with press badges to stay in the area even after they’ve ordered the crowd to disperse.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said the protests of summer 2020, sometimes spontaneous, “presented many unique challenges for officers” who were trying to protect people’s First Amendment rights while ensuring public safety. He said in a statement that the “re-envisioned” policies for protests will better equip the department to meet that challenge.

New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) added in a statement that the agreement seeks to “balance safety with justice.”

NYPD also agreed to the creation of an oversight board to ensure that the department is complying with the settlement.

Corey Stoughton of the Legal Aid Society lauded the move.

“Today’s settlement represents a novel approach to policing protests that, if implemented faithfully by the NYPD, will ensure that protesters are never again met with the sort of indiscriminate violence and retaliatory overpolicing New York saw in the summer of 2020,” said Corey Stoughton, who leads the activist firm’s efforts to address police misconduct.