The NYPD spied on Muslim Americans. Will a court settlement change anything?

[CopyBoy]

In the current moment of mounting anti-Muslim sentiment nationwide and misguided calls from some politicians for a security crackdown on Muslims, there is some welcome news: the New York police department has agreed to reforms that prohibit the discriminatory surveillance of Muslim communities.

Five years ago, news broke that the NYPD was engaged in an expansive domestic spying operation targeting American Muslim communities for surveillance, mapping and infiltration. Two lawsuits were filed in the New York federal courts in response to these practices and in defense New York City Muslims’ – and all minority communities’ – right to equal treatment and religious freedom.

On Thursday, both lawsuits were settled. If approved by the courts, the settlement would reinforce existing safeguards on surveillance of political and religious activities, create new ones and embed civilian oversight within the NYPD.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/08/nypd-spied-muslim-americans-will-court-settlement-bring-change

 

[Richard_White]

I just finished reading Former NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s autobiography Vigilance: My Life Service America and Protecting Its Empire City. He instituted a great many practices in the NYPD that saved lives and protected Americans from radical jihadist terrorists, not to mention lowering crime statistics for regular New Yorkers. During his tenure, a total of 16 terror plots were foiled and the murder rate went down to 333 in his last year in office in 2013 from a whopping over 2,000 per year in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So, the practices that spied on Muslim American communities were the ones that saved lives, as evidenced by his record and as described in his book. If you read it, you will see that his policies included getting to know the local communities and embedding within them legally and peacefully so as to get information and protect the community.

Plus, just an aside: I don’t know why we always get all these articles about American society from British news sources. Don’t we have enough American news sources that talk about ourselves?

May God bless you all abundantly and forever!

 

[BartholomewB]

Plus, just an aside: I don’t know why we always get all these articles about American society from British news sources. Don’t we have enough American news sources that talk about ourselves?

May God bless you all abundantly and forever!

It’s not all British news sources, by any means. The Guardian is an extreme case.