Civil rights lawyers are not buying the New York Police Department’s claim that surveillance of Muslims helps fight terrorism, and they have filed suit in a federal court to seek an order to end the practice.
The lawyers claim that a 1985 agreement restricts surveillance of Muslims in mosques as well as in restaurants and bookstores.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne pointed out in defense that Muslim terrorism did not end with 9/11 and that there have been several attempts or plots since then to blow up the BrooklynBridge and the Federal Reserve Bank, among others
The lawyers argued that the police have routinely investigated and followed Muslims even when there were no signs that they were associated with anything illegal.
The lawsuit noted that a police department unit has developed a database on public activities of Muslims and that police have infiltrated mosques.