The New York Police Department (NYPD) closely monitors Muslims who change their names to sound more American, and Muslims who take on Arabic names.“The NYPD monitors everyone in the city who changes his or her name… For those whose names sound Arabic or might be from Muslim countries, police run comprehensive background checks” Associated Press reported.
Police background check includes reviewing travel records, criminal histories, business licenses and immigration documents.
All this is recorded in police databases for supervisors, who review the names and select a handful of people for police to visit.
The program is believed to be a tripwire for police to identify homegrown terrorists.
An AP investigation showed that since August the NYPD has been behind intelligence efforts targeting the Muslim community since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The NYPD has surveilled entire Muslim neighborhoods, collecting information on the daily activities of Muslims such as eating and praying which are all behavior protected by the First Amendment of the US constitution.
It should be noted that the NYPD is not the only institution discriminating against Muslims, the FBI has its own ethnic mapping program that spies on Muslim communities, especially prayers and other community leaders.
www.presstv.ir, Oct 30, 2011