NYPD shredding the constitution
The massive surveillance programme implemented by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in coordination with CIA officials is shredding the constitution, putting at risk the rights and freedoms of Arab Americans and American Muslims. If left unchecked, their behaviour will weaken the foundations of our democracy and seriously compromise our values as an open and inclusive society.
Revelations by the Associated Press have established that the NYPD, working with a few CIA officials, has been monitoring Arab and Muslim-owned businesses, mosques, and “mapping” areas of the city where high concentrations of Muslims and Arab immigrants are known to live. In order to accomplish these objectives, the NYPD has coerced Muslims to act as spies.
In one instance, the police scoured records of taxi drivers looking for those who had unpaid tickets and other violations. Those who also had immigration status issues were given the option of acting as spies or facing possible deportation. Once turned into informants, they were then asked to go to popular gathering places, attend religious services, and other community events in order to report on who was present and what was said. This material has been entered into extensive surveillance files, even when the activities attended and the words spoken have been innocent and protected by the First Amendment.
The reports which have been compiled and are categorised as “Secret” are, at best, trite. At the same time, they are dangerous, since they represent ethnic profiling at its worst and an extension of the long arm of the state into the normal everyday activity of an entire community.
One report, for example, on “Egyptian Locations of Interest” purports to map “centres of activity” or “hangouts” for Egyptian Americans that can be used as “listening posts” where informants can go to “listen to neighbourhood gossip…[and] get a feel for the community.” The report goes on to present a demographic profile of where persons of Egyptian descent live in New York City and describes, with pictures attached, all of the restaurants and other businesses where Egyptians and other Arab immigrants to the city congregate or shop.
As disturbing as this behaviour has been, what is more so is the outright denial by New York officials that anything untoward has occurred and the public’s apparent tolerance for these flagrant violations of rights. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly denies such practices. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also denies that any profiling is involved ignoring the statements in the beginning of each of the “Secret” reports that they are targeting specific ethnic and religious communities. Finally, a recent poll of residents of the City concluded that “New Yorkers brush aside the gripes about police surveillance of the Muslim community.”
In addition to the violations of the fundamental and guaranteed rights of citizens to be free of intrusive government surveillance as they go about their normal everyday activity, there are other troubling issues that must be noted. First and foremost is the fear and suspicion generated by this behaviour. As a result of this NYPD/CIA programme, Arab and Muslim immigrants have become increasingly fearful of law enforcement. Trust has been broken. And trust between the community and the police is the key to any successful crime prevention strategy. Another by-product of this effort is the suspicion it has created about the community, reinforcing negative perceptions. Some might say “if the police think that they are all a threat, they must be.”
It must also be pointed out, especially after reviewing the “reports”, what an enormous waste of resources this has all been. Not only has it alienated the community from the police, it has also expended countless hours of valuable labour to produce files and reports that are of no value. In fact, it can safely be said, that the net result of all this work has been of zero benefit to the effort to keep New York safe.
I have long argued that Arabs and Muslims were the weak link in America’s civil liberty chain. When the rights of vulnerable minority groups are threatened, we recognise the need to demand a halt to abuse, because we have learned that when the rights of any group are compromised, the rights of all are at risk. It is worrisome that in the post-9/11 era the challenge to constitutional rights has all too often been met with silence – because it was Arabs and Muslims who were the targets. What we have failed to recognise is that if the rights to assemble, to speak freely, to be secure from unwarranted search, to due process, and more are put at risk by the NYPD and CIA in New York, then these rights may ultimately be threatened for all Americans.
The writer is President of the Arab-American Institute.