Monday, March 2, 2015
Zone Assessment Unit NYPD
Brandon Farrell
The New York Police Department has disbanded its “Zone Assessment Unit,” which was used to unconstitutionally surveillance New York’s Muslim population. It is certainly a step in the right direction that this mechanism of ethnic and religious profiling has been stopped. However, in “NYPD Shutters Muslim Mapping Unit – But What About Other Tactics?” Noa Yachot reminds us not to celebrate the end of bias-based policing just yet, because the NYPD continues to utilize other tactics that operate on problematic stereotypes and unjustly target the Muslim population.
Yachot enumerates multiple abusive tactics the NYPD employs, including the use of informants who monitor innocent Muslim people, the designation of entire mosques as “terrorism enterprises,” discriminatory use of surveillance cameras, and the avowal of radicalization theories that arise suspicion against people who engage in any Islamic practice. Shutting down the “Zone Assessment Unit” was an important act of progress, but we must hold the NYPD accountable for ending all practices plagued with racial and religious profiling. Our law enforcement system is supposed to be an equalizer; punishments and investigative procedures should be consistent, and the entire process should be isolated from race, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. Through religious-based policing the NYPD fail to do this, and are delegitimizing our legal system by violating our nation’s commitment to freedom from religious persecution for all.
In the wake of the Paris, Copenhagen, and Chapel Hill shootings, it is important that we consider the global context these NYPD tactics are being practiced in. In a world afflicted by religious based violence and inundated with Islam-phobia, it is essential to consider the very real dangers these types of practices are capable of perpetuating. Not only are they downright unjust, but also they are integral to sowing a fear and mistrust of the Muslim community, which exacerbates their isolation and degradation- the very isolation and degradation that generated the terrorist attacks in the first place.
These NYPD practices were born out of a fear of Muslim people, due to acts of terror committed by certain people who identify as Muslim. However, violence is not somehow inherent to Islam. We must examine what it is about our societal, political, legal, and economic structures that are so fused with prejudice against the Muslim community that they generated enough frustration within jihadists to commit acts of unconscionable violence. I am in no way excusing or trivializing the actions of terrorists. I am, however, advocating that these surveillance actions are a violation of The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment. It is clear that these Muslim citizens are not being treated fairly in the same method that others in similar situations are being treated. If we are to respond to this violence in a comprehensive way that will effectively prevent future attacks, which is presumably the aim of the NYPD, we need to understand the root causes of the conflict. If the root of the problem is prejudice against and alienation of the Muslim community, these NYPD practices are making New York more dangerous instead of more safe. If progress is to come and we are to usher in peace, we must afford the Muslim community the recognition and inclusion they deserve instead of augmenting their sense of exclusion and oppression.
Appropriate responses that will effectively prevent future violence will not hold an entire religion responsible for the actions of extremists. When unconscionable acts of violence are committed in the name of Christianity, such as by abortion clinic bombers or by the KKK, perpetrators are psycho-pathologized and treated as exceptions to the rule. When this happens in the name of Islam, however, every member of that religion is held responsible by the public and is stripped of their human rights by the government. This has been happening in the US since 9/11, and is only getting worse after the attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. Assuming that the 1.6 billion people that practice Islam support the actions taken by those at the fringes of their religion is to withhold the respect that should be afforded to people of every faith that practice it peacefully. Let us not forget people like Ahmed Merabet, the Muslim police officer killed in Paris. Charlie Hebdo ridiculed Ahmed’s faith and culture, and Ahmed died defending Charlie’s right to do so. We must stop subjugating the truthful, nuanced versions of the world simply because it is more convenient to blame an entire part of the populace for the actions taken by a few.
0 Responses to “Zone Assessment Unit NYPD”
Post a Comment