LAPD racial profiling: "Muslim Mapping Project"

[amalgamate]

LAPD to build data on Muslim areas
Anti-terrorism unit wants to identify sites 'at risk' for extremism.November 9, 2007

An extensive mapping program launched by the LAPD's anti-terrorism bureau to identify Muslim enclaves across the city sparked outrage Thursday from some Islamic groups and civil libertarians, who denounced the effort as an exercise in racial and religious profiling.

Los Angeles,CA Police Department Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing, who heads the bureau, defended the undertaking as a way to help Muslim communities avoid the influence of those who would radicalize Islamic residents and advocate "violent, ideologically-based extremism."

"We are seeking to identify at-risk communities," Downing said in an interview Thursday evening. "We are looking for communities and enclaves based on risk factors that are likely to become isolated. . . . We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities."

Downing added that the Muslim Public Affairs Council has embraced the vaguely defined program "in concept." The group's executive director, Salam Al-Marayati, said Thursday that it wanted to know more about the plan and had a meeting set with the LAPD next week.

"We will work with the LAPD and give them input, while at the same time making sure that people's civil liberties are protected," said Al-Marayati, who commended Downing for being "very forthright in his engagement with the Muslim community."

Others condemned the project, however.

"We certainly reject this idea completely," said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. "This stems basically from this presumption that there is homogenized Muslim terrorism that exists among us."

Syed said he is a member of Police Chief William J. Bratton's forum of religious advisors, but had not been told of the community mapping program. "This came as a jolt to me," Syed said.

Hussam Ayloush, who leads the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the mapping "basically turns the LAPD officers into religious political analysts, while their role is to fight crime and enforce the laws."

During Oct. 30 testimony before Congress, Downing described the program broadly as an attempt to "mitigate radicalization." At that time, he said law enforcement agencies nationwide faced "a vicious, amorphous and unfamiliar adversary on our land."

Downing and other law enforcement officials said police agencies around the world are dealing with radical Muslim groups that are isolated from the larger community, making potential breeding groups for terrorism. He cited terror cells in Europe as well as the case of some Muslim extremists in New Jersey arrested in May for allegedly planning to bomb Ft. Dix.

"We want to map the locations of these closed, vulnerable communities, and in partnership with these communities . . . help [weave] these enclaves into the fabric of the larger society," he said in his testimony.

"To do this, we need to go into the community and get to know peoples' names," he said. "We need to walk into homes, neighborhoods, mosques and businesses."

To assemble the mapping data, Downing said in an interview Thursday, the LAPD intends to enlist USC's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, which was founded four years ago with $12 million in federal funds.

In 2003, university officials said the center would focus on threats to power plants, telecommunications and transportation systems.

It recently was tapped to strengthen security at Los Angeles International Airport.

Downing said the effort would not involve spying on neighborhoods. He said it would identify groups, not individuals.

"This has nothing to do with intelligence," he said, comparing it to market research.

But in his congressional testimony, Downing said the LAPD hoped to identify communities that "may be susceptible to violent, ideologically-based extremism and then use a full-spectrum approach guided by an intelligence-led strategy."

Downing told lawmakers the program would "take a deeper look at the history, demographics, language, culture, ethnic breakdown, socioeconomic status and social interactions."

He added that the project was in its very early stages, and that its cost and full scope have not been determined.

"Physically the work has not begun," Downing said.

The American Civil Liberties Union and some community groups sent a letter Thursday to Downing expressing "grave concerns" about the program and asking for a meeting.

"The mapping of Muslim communities . . . seems premised on the faulty notion that Muslims are more likely to commit violent acts than people of other faiths," the letter states.

ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston compared the program to the Red Scare of the 1950s and said: "This is nothing short of racial profiling."

But Al-Marayati said he believed that Downing was working in good faith.

"He is well-known in the Muslim community," he said. "He's been in a number of mosques and been very forthright in his engagement with the Muslim community."

[amalgamate]

CAIR-LA Rep Discusses LAPD "Mapping" on O'Reilly Factor

[amalgamate]

Community profiling's long, sad history

Cal State Long Beach professor objects to LAPD Muslim-mapping idea
By Richard R. Marcus
November 13, 2007

As a Los Angeles County resident, a scholar and a Jew with a good memory, I was shocked and horrified to read of the Los Angeles Police Department's antiterrorism bureau program to map Muslim communities. The debate over security versus individual rights that was popularized in the wake of the USA Patriot Act and invoked in this case is, in my view, the wrong debate. Targeting identity communities to protect society from those minority subgroups that seek to do harm — as opposed to creating strategies to address criminal behavior — is both morally repugnant and strategically misinformed.

Historically, mapping communities has been a precursor to actions against those communities. Why map if you aren't going to try to act on the data collected? How is this method of protecting city residents different from, say, identification of Jewish areas that ultimately led to the oppression of the "Pale of Settlement"? The foundation for that action was Russia's desire to protect its middle class. Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing's argument that the Muslim mapping program would protect Muslims is even more offensive. How is this rationale different from the British justifying the occupation of Palestine in the early 20th century by claiming they were protecting the Jewish population?

Even the effort to identify radicalism within the Muslim community through mapping is subject to the vicissitudes of defining a "radical." Puritan radicals in 17th century New England were rounded up, held as enemy aliens and restricted to defined zones, suspected of holding views that undermined liberal ideals. I would think that Downing would join the majority of Americans today who find the above cases to have been morally reprehensible mistakes. Why can't we look at Muslim mapping with the benefit of hindsight?

Strategically, we should have learned from recent U.S. policy failures that followed the targeting of identity groups in other countries, but I will eschew that political maelstrom. Clearly, all three cases of identity mapping above led to increased, not decreased, threats to the population; I am challenged to find any case that hasn't. If we do want to try again to protect the population through identity-group profiling, then maybe we need to be honest about it. Why don't we map African American communities? African Americans are convicted of crimes more often than white Americans. Why don't we map Hispanic communities? Hispanics are convicted of crimes more often than white Americans as well. Wouldn't identity-group profiling protect the population in these cases? After all, in 2001, according to the U.S. Statistical Abstract, there were 16,037 homicides in the U.S. — more than five times the number killed on 9/11. I am confident that the vibrant public discourse spares me from having to answer those questions.

Perhaps ironically, one of the most articulate positions on both the moral and strategic problem with identity mapping has been made by the Bush administration. In a speech before Congress, President Bush stated that racial profiling "is wrong and we will end it in America ... stopping the abuses of a few, we will add to the public confidence our police officers earn and deserve." The U.S. Department of Justice banned racial profiling, calling it unconstitutional. Under this definition, former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft followed in February 2002, saying that using race "as a proxy for potential criminal behavior is unconstitutional, and it undermines law enforcement by undermining the confidence that people can have in law enforcement." I guess the LAPD missed the memo.

Richard R. Marcus is assistant professor of international studies at CSU Long Beach, where he teaches, conducts research and publishes on community perceptions of macro-political change in Madagascar, Kenya, Israel and the United States.

[amalgamate]

LAPD Announces Withdrawal of Mapping Plan
(Los Angeles - 11/14/07)

During a pre-recorded show on KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?", LAPD Deputy Chief Mike Downing stated that he is "pull the mapping plan aside for now". MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati also participated on the show and articulated the unity of Muslim American organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Shura Council of Southern California and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

"I am glad to hear his statement that he is putting the plan aside and we are looking for a constructive meeting tomorrow along with other Muslim organizations," Al-Marayati said. "All Muslim organizations are united in purpose to defend the rights of Muslim Americans while developing a positive and constructive relationship with the LAPD."

"Which Way, L.A.?" airs 10:00-10:30 p.m. EST / 7:00-7:30 p.m. PST on 89.9 KCRW or you can listen live at KCRW | 89.9FM.

Founded in 1988, the Muslim Public Affairs Council is an American institution which informs and shapes public opinion and policy by serving as a trusted resource to decision makers in government, media and policy institutions. MPAC is also committed to developing leaders with the purpose of enhancing the political and civic participation of Muslim Americans.

[amalgamate]

MUSLIMS WELCOME REMOVAL OF LAPD'S MAPPING PROGRAM

(Los Angeles, CA, - 11/15/2007) - The controversial Muslim 'Mapping' Plan of the Los Angeles Police Department is now "dead on arrival" according to Chief William Bratton.

"It is over and not just put on the side," said Chief Bratton in a meeting with the Muslim leadership of Southern California on Thursday, November 15th. The meeting was moderated by Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Arif Alikhan and attended by Deputy Chief Mike Downing.

Chief Bratton acknowledged the hurt and offense caused to Muslims and agreed to send a letter to the Muslim community announcing the official termination of the 'mapping' plan.

A major reason for the termination of the 'mapping' plan was the Muslim community's vociferous opposition and active civic engagement in making themselves heard beyond Los Angeles. Muslim organizations demonstrated a strong unity of purpose and message on the issue of 'mapping' that led to a position of strength for Muslims in the meeting. Those involved in the initial phases of this controversy were the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council,, Muslim Advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union. Several other mosques and organizations joined in the common stand against the 'mapping' plan at the meeting.

Present at the press conference was also a large coalition of interfaith groups and social justice organizations whose continued support strengthened the Muslims' call for the withdrawal of the 'mapping' plan. The alliance with these groups proved instrumental in registering a strong voice to preserve American democratic values in our city government.

The Muslim organizations highlighted the pervasive culture of ignorance across the country in political and law enforcement circles contributing to misconceptions about Islam and Muslims that lead to short-sighted policy-making. In response, Chief Bratton suggested the establishment of a Muslim Forum for LAPD to directly interface with him and his senior command staff in pursuit of mutual understanding between law enforcement and the Muslim community. The Muslim leadership welcomed the idea and hopes the Forum will help to dispel the myths about Islam and Muslims and create a healthy dialogue with law enforcement.

Today, the people of Los Angeles spoke and the City of Los Angeles listened to the collective voice for justice and civil rights.