NEW YORK — New York City has agreed to destroy hundreds of fingerprints taken from protesters arrested at this summer's Republican National Convention (search).
The New York Civil Liberties Union (search) says the destruction of the fingerprints comes two weeks after the it filed two lawsuits challenging the routine fingerprinting of protesters accused of misdemeanors.
Under state law, police are limited when taking fingerprints of those charged with minor violations such as disorderly conduct. They can only do it if they can't identify the person, suspect they're being given a false ID or think the person is being sought for another crime.
Spokesman Paul Browne (search) says allegations that police used the convention arrests to establish fingerprint records on political activists are false.
