NYC defends use of Muslims to spy on its own people

The ongoing debate over the New York Police Department's installation of a Muslim spying unit has already spilled into a court, with the city of New York trying to explain the rationale behind the program. In the latest development, civil rights group advocates demand that the city's police department abandon the practice they have implement since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The Associated Press said that Muslim groups have filed a civil rights lawsuit to seek legal action regarding the state government-backed spying unit, hoping to end it on the basis that its surveillance unit violated constitutional rights. Lawyers for the city had struck back and claimed that the surveillance program was a response to the attention the plaintiffs have brought on. In the same line of reasoning, the city then demanded any communications by the plaintiffs that mentioned terrorism, kihad or war in Afghanistan, including financial records from the two Brooklyn mosques, an imam and a Muslim charity.

The plaintiffs have balked on the audacious request, and their lawyers have wrote in court papers late March, "(Disclosure of records from the mosque and the charity) would further alienate and chill congregants, members, donors and donees ... and thereby infringe on plaintiffs' right to free exercise, free speech and associational privacy."

The back-and-forth between the plaintiffs and the city might have spurred the NYPD to disband the controversial Demographics Unit last month. However, civil rights advocates insisted that the police department has yet to commit to abandoning the practice of using Muslim informants. According to Police Commissioner William Bratton, the debriefings on Muslims who were arrested on petty crimes was an essential element of police work, and insisted that it did not single out Muslims.

However, Muslim advocates said that the debriefings send the wrong message.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Hina Shamsi, who is assigned to the case, said, "Those who had looked to Mayor de Blasio for real meaningful changes in policing and relationships with Muslims are disappointed."

Egypt-born El-Meligy, who works in a college admissions office in the city, said, "(Reminders that informants are still in circulation add to the distrust of government and law enforcement that's already there. Unfortunately, we started suspecting each other as well. It creates an atmosphere of hysteria."

Tags

New York Police Department, NYPD Demographics Unit, New York Police Police Commissioner William Bratton

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