NEW YORK: A delegation of US Muslim civil rights and advocacy
organization, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called on
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and apprised him about the police
spying of Muslims.
They also demanded to enforce a law that
prohibits the use of racial or ethnic profiling by law enforcement
officers. The delegation of CAIR told the mayor that some parts of
media revealed the reports that the undercover officers of New York
Police Department (NYPD) keep an close eye on the movement of Muslims .
Places likes mosques, markets and hotels where Muslim usually visit are
under observation of the police.
The media report also said the
NYPD is maintaining a list of ’ancestries of interest’ and dispatched
undercover officers to monitor Muslim businesses and social groups.
The
revelations are contained in documents that confirm an earlier report
by AP, that undercover NYPD officers in a so-called "Demographics Unit"
targeted Muslim communities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for
surveillance and infiltration. After collecting data on local Muslims,
the NYPD would "deploy officers in civilian clothes throughout the
ethnic communities. But NYPD officials denied the existence of
Demographics Unit exists.
According to the AP: "An NYPD
presentation, delivered inside the department, described the mission
and makeup of the Demographics Unit. Undercover officers were told to
look not only for evidence of terrorism and crimes but also to
determine the ethnicity of business owners and eavesdrop on
conversations inside cafes." The law is part of the administrative code
of the city of New York, CAIR said. It defines profiling as an act that
relies on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin as the
determinative factor in initiating law enforcement action against an
individual.
This law clearly prohibits NYPD officers from
targeting American Muslims in the manner described by the Associated
Press reports," said CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas. "We urge members
of the New York City Council and Mayor Bloomberg to enforce the clear
language of this law."
Abbas noted that a CIA officer oversaw
the spy programme "while working with the NYPD on the CIA payroll."
This action by a CIA agent could be in violation of guidelines
prohibiting the agency from spying on American citizens.
The
Demographics Unit, a team of 16 officers speaking at least five
languages, is the only squad of its kind known to be operating in the
country, it said.Using census information and government databases, the
NYPD mapped ethnic neighbourhoods in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut. Rakers then visited local businesses, chatting up store
owners to determine their ethnicity and gauge their sentiment, the
documents show. They played cricket and eavesdropped in the city’s
ethnic cafes and clubs.
When the CIA would launch drone attacks
in Pakistan, the NYPD would dispatch rakers to Pakistani neighbourhoods
to listen for angry rhetoric and anti-American comments, current and
former officials involved in the program said. Online
