NYPD paints over political mural

On July 25th a plain clothes NYPD officer painted over a mural on the whole of a local business, New Edition Cleaners, owned by Marina Curet.  Curet gave the artists permission to paint the mural, as she has been doing for years.  One of the artists, Alan Ket says that he "decided to turn it into more of a protests walla and collaborate with friends to share a message that I feel is pertinent and that the community should think about."

The mural, entitled "Murderers," reads: We know the real MURDERERS and has NYPD grouped in with others including the war on drugs, poverty, Mcdonald's, Shell oil, FDA, Television, and Bank of America.  Ket says that he wanted to point out that "the war isn't always abroad, but that it's actually here."  Art blog Hyperallergic writes that "Curet was apparently intimidated by the officers" who told her the mural was "a bad idea".

Although the NYPD says they removed the mural because members of the community didn't like it's violent message, but local consensus shows that they are more concerned with the censorship than the "violent message".  Ket speaks on this issue:

I think that it’s good, actually, to know where the police stand in our community, that this is the type of people we’re dealing with that are civil servants in our neighborhoods. Something like this can help them show us their true colors.  On the other hand, it shows a lack of respect on their part towards art, towards freedom of expression, towards the community. And it shows their cowardice in dealing with tough issues.

Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union responds: "The police do not have the right to censor material they don't agree with.  This is a violation of the first amendment", and this is the heart of the matter.  The content of the mural is not as significant here as the implications.  The artist clearly provoked the NYPD, and got exactly what he wanted, a response showing that the police will just put an end to something that disagrees with them.

I guess the question to ask is whether or not the NYPD had a warrant or permission to paint over the mural that was done on private property.