NYC cops rely on Muslim informers
Highlights
NYC Cops Rely on Muslim Informers. New York City police have been recruiting immigrants, most of them Muslims, in the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001, to act as informants eavesdropping in cafes, restaurants and mosques, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
NEW YORK: New York City police have been recruiting immigrants, most of them Muslims, in the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001, to act as informants eavesdropping in cafes, restaurants and mosques, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
Citing documents it had obtained and interviews with former and senior police officials, the paper said the department had sought to enlist the help of immigrants such as a food cart vendor from Afghanistan, an Egyptian-born limousine driver and an accounting student from Pakistan , most of whom were detained for minor infractions.
Detectives working for a unit known as the Citywide Debriefing Team conducted 220 such interviews in the first quarter of this year, the Times said, citing police officials, and conducted many hundreds of interviews in other years. Police officials described the interviews to the Times as voluntary, but the paper said several Muslim immigrants it spoke to felt shaken by the encounters.
John Miller, who is the deputy commissioner in charge of the Intelligence Division, said that the debriefing team emerged from an urgent need for counterterrorism sources following the September 11 attacks, the Times said.
Next Story
ADVERTISEMENT
