LAPD Modifies Surveillance Program Of Muslims

A Los Angeles Police Department officers stands guard at the ticket counter in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium prior to the home opener aginst the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 10, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Security was high at the stadium for the home opener after a San Francisco Giants fan Brian Stow was beaten into a coma in a Dodger Stadium parking lot following the home opener in March of 2011. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES (RNS) After lobbying from Muslim and Sikh leaders, the Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to modify its information-gathering program on suspicious activities after the New York Police Department came under fire for spying on local Muslims.

Since 2008, the LAPD has used the federal Suspicious Activities Reporting (SAR) program to file reports on potential terrorist-related actions, such as someone photographing certain buildings. Sikh and Muslim leaders said the LAPD's Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau should ensure that future suspicious activity reports are prompted by actual behavior with apparently genuine criminal or terrorist elements.

Under the new guidelines, information that's gathered on what later is determined to be innocent behavior, but still remaining in SAR files, will be erased from counterterrorism databases.

"SAR is a reality," said Muslim Public Affairs Council President Salam Al-Marayati, who worked with the ACLU, the South Asian Network and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund on the program changes. "We're removing noncriminal behavior from SAR reporting, and data on innocuous behavior is being purged."

Cmdr. Blake Chow of the LAPD's counterterrorism bureau called the changes an "example of our ability to reach out to the people we work with. There's a little bit of (information) regrouping. We're still going to be collecting suspicious activity reports. The program is still as robust as it is now."

Al-Marayati told RNS that unlike the problems with the NYPD's spying on Muslim groups, the Los Angeles reforms reflect police wanting to work with mosques and not view Muslims with suspicion.

"The community engagement model can work; it's more effective," said Al-Marayati. "The mosques have rejected the al-Qaida ideology of death -- that's why it's even more important for law enforcement to partner with the mosques."

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Comments

[dbrett480]

05:33 PM on 05/31/2012

Who defines non-criminal?

It seems we have forgotten the law enforcement lessons that 9/11 taught us. Remember that the terrorists taking flight training and their practice runs were dismissed as unimportant and not criminal in nature.

[nondhimmi]

09:25 AM on 05/30/2012

Contd: Ask your Muslim friends if they renounce these teachings. They will try to get around the question, but they will not renounce them. To do so is to be apostate and that is death in Islam.

Unfortunately most westerners have the naive assumption that all religion teaches what Jesus or Buddha taught - peace, love of all, nonviolence, forgiveness etc. But Mohammed/Islam teach the exact opposite of all of this. it is a religion/ideology of war, conquest, force and hate.

To oppose this ideology of hate is not to hate all Muslims. Many Muslims live in fear of it, but Islam has never been reformed, as Judaism has, and removed these hateful, violent doctrines. It can't without admitting that Mohammed was just a pedophile, bandit warlord instead of a mouthpiece for god. To believe in islam is to believe in every word it teaches. The Qur'an is supposed to be the dictated word of Allah for all time. There is no half way belief. There are no such things as 'moderate' Muslims.

To criticize Republicanism, Mormonism, Nazism, Catholicism doesn't make one a hatemonger, does it? Neither does criticizing the hateful doctrines of Islam. To oppose hate should be praised. Tolerance of intolerance is not noble.

You should be fighting against this hateful, violent ideology too, if you care about human rights, freedom and peace and justice. Read the qur'an and hadith and sira:

http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/

http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/

[nondhimmi]

09:18 AM on 05/30/2012

Charles W N Why is it when people oppose the hatred taught in Islamic scriptures for all non-Muslims those people opposing hate are then singled out by people like you as the 'haters'?

If you knew the slightest bit of anything about Islam you'd know that it teaches Muslims not to assimilate in any non-Muslims society.

Here's the classic doctrine of Islam all Muslims are taught, which they certainly don't tell non-Muslims:

From the Classic Manual of Islamic Law – The Reliance of the Traveller
(translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller)

The doctrine of al-wala’a wal bara’a is:

“hatred for the sake of Allah, being unyielding toward the unbelievers, hard against them and
detesting them”. (Law w59.2 page 1015)

There are at least 109 verses in the Qur'an alone that teach hatred toward the non-Muslims and tell Muslims 'take not the Jews and Christians for your friends' (Qur'an 5:51) They are taught they must kill all Jews or the Islamic day of Resurrection cannot com:

Bukhari (52:177) - Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.".

[patani-muslim]

11:56 AM on 06/03/2012

The hour will not be established untill you fight the Jews and kill them and defeat them to the extent even the stones will say Ya muslim theres a Jew hiding behind me come and kill him! you missed a bit!

Not all Jews though not the ones that are our allies and condemn the oppression of Israel!

[Charles W Noble]

04:23 PM on 05/27/2012

Do you think Muslims are humans? I am curious because there is a deep level of hatred for Muslims and I'm trying to figure out why.

[surj]

07:08 PM on 05/27/2012

" Do you think muslims are human? " If they were then there would not be a problem with them.

[Charles W Noble]

10:35 AM on 05/30/2012

Surj, just remember that a little while back Nazi germany had a specific process to try to dehumanize all Jews so that the population wouldn't rise when they were murdered.

People like you are in lockstep with that type of mentality. There are muslims out there who are better people than you and you are not good enough to shine their shoes...

[ProgressivesLoveAmerica]

04:22 PM on 05/26/2012

I've always thought that this sort of thing constituted an unnecessary waste of law-enforcement resources. I'm glad common sense is being embraced.

[streettalk]

11:46 PM on 05/25/2012

the pepoles who corral other should know the difference from a moslem and an islamic or between due and a jew or a c.f and a so called christian because if they don't know the difference between a mind and a brain then you know those who say they are in charge are just cohort to the tors of cause when the don't get paid they try to slink back in to the communities but they should be ashamed of themselves but thier not please believe me when i say i do not want a hare on thier heads touched i need them to live out thier lives so when they die the chidren of the great spirit can deal with them of cause they don't believe and i am thankful they don't . i can't have them saying thier sorry now they have done enough damage thier punishment awaits them. i will gave them the infomation to what is going happen to them toknow the difference betwen a soul and spirit. well done cohortsyou have helped the thieves rob.

[100 percent haram]

03:25 PM on 05/25/2012

whether a nation is secular or not, is one variable. the percentage of muslims in a country is a critical variable. islam is extremely political, by the way, so if terrorism is a political act, islam is a political system disguised as religion so there ya go. economics is a false indicator. bin laden was wealthy and from an insanely wealthy family. the underwear bomber's dad was one of the richest men in the country, most of the 9/11 terrorists were from well-off to rich families and had university educations.

the politics of islam is to dominate every country and eradicate every other religion. just cause you didn't hear about it doesn't mean it's not happening. there was another terror attack in china on feb 28 of this year that killed 10 and injured 5. uzbekistan has had terrorist attacks as recently as 2009, but due to extreme police crack-downs that don't give a rip about being pc or outreach to the mosques where most of them are radicalized, they have helped diminish that (the US state dept isn't convinced it's all that safe though). last november there was a terror attack in kazakhstan (there's no kazkistan so i assume you meant kazakhstan) and it WAS reported in western news sources. how'd you miss that?

put down your cup of pc kool-aid, please and spend 5 minutes googling all the countries you list and you'll see they all have terrorism. fool.

[Jame Gumb]

05:44 AM on 05/26/2012

"islam is extremely political, by the way, so if terrorism is a political act, islam is a political system disguised as religion so there ya go."

Wait wait wait a minute. You are group all Muslims in the entire world into one class -that being political? What about the word CULTURE, where religion, politics, language could all be boiled down to politics with the same sweeping logic you use? Not all Muslims are radical fundamentalists that want to eliminate all other religions.

AND JUST BECAUSE all those countries you listed had terrorist attacks does not mean all the Muslims in those countries are radical or terrorists nor does it mean SIKHS in America out to be on the "watch lists."

[100 percent haram]

06:55 AM on 05/26/2012

i never said they're ALL terrorists. actually the terrorists usually end up killing muslims, and the vast majority of those are the ordinary, minding their own business, non-terrorist ones.

call it religion, politics, culture, i don't care. islam treats women as sub-human. this makes it, as a religion, political system, or culture, less valid than those that at least ATTEMPT to honor the human rights of half the population. it's from the top, allah, the "prophet", the quran/sunna that women are less. they're "stupid" and "like domestic animals". it's not just permitted to beat them but encouraged. under sharia, they are at fault for "adultery" when a man rapes them. some are imprisoned unless they marry the rapist. others are hanged or stoned. in some places a woman can keep you out of jail: you're accused of a crime? give your daughter or sister as a slave and you can avoid paying for your crime (of course SHE'LL pay for it the rest of her life). and don't even get me started on fgm and child marriage. how many 12-year-olds have to die in childbirth before they realize little girls aren't built for that? also mohammed said gays must be executed.

if you think that islam should be embraced, how do you defend those things? and while they aren't all terrorists, most of the nice friendly "moderate" ones we all know and love DO believe those things are OK because the "prophet" said so.

[HotelDrama]

09:47 PM on 05/26/2012

How do you defend similar writings in the Bible? Or in any religious text?

These religions came from a specific time and place in history. They are cultural constructs that talk about situations from that cultures perspective.

Are you aware of the fact that a Christian pastor in North Carolina said that gays should be rounded up and put in camps so they can die? And he said this last Sunday.

The point being is that we can find many things in religious text that we find hideous. I'm sure you know this and I'm sure you give a pass to all those other teachings expect Islam, but hey...

[pollywantacracker]

12:06 PM on 05/25/2012

Fleen,

Many would-be and de fact terrorists are radicalized at "radical" Islamic mosques, and many terrorists have been drawn from their ranks AT MOSQUES.

Our law enforcement forces FIRST DUTY is to PROTECT THE POPULATION and not not do the job because it so calls hurts the feelings of some Muslims.

Fleen, if you were injured by Islamic terrorism or some other sort of Islamic crime, and you found out that the police COULD have stopped it, but were deterred by cries of unfair, how do you think you'd feel?

In the UK there are huge rings of Pakistani Muslims who are bringing in hundreds non-Muslim native British young girls, raping them and grooming them for prostitution.

In numerous Scandinavian countries, there is a scourge of rapes by Muslims against Scandinavian women.

The police have known all of about this FOR OVER A DECADE, and the police HAVE DONE NOTHING until very recently, because they didn't want to be accused or "racism" or "Islamophobia".

How would you feel if YOUR CHILD had been groomed for prostitution and raped by these Muslim rings, and the POLICE KNEW IT AND DIDN'T ANYTHING ABOUT IT?

That is essentially what's happening, and I want OUR POLICE TO PROTECT US, and they are only one line of defense in a massive and highly varied forms of Jihad.

[Talab]

09:34 AM on 05/29/2012

I could copy your statement word for word twice replacing jew and then christian for muslim and it would be just as true as your post.... try this .... ask an honest policeman ( if you can find one ) which of the 3 groups (muslims christians and jews ) are most likely to own or operate a house of prostitution .... bet the answer would suprise you

[pollywantacracker]

11:54 AM on 05/25/2012

Thank you, nondhimmi and Jerry Frey. You have taken the time to educate yourselves and are trying to give others the benefit from what you have learned, while so many others -- well intentioned I'm sure -- have a knee-jerk, liberal response to this issue and are clueless to the dangers we are facing.

In many ways, Islam is every bit as fascist as Nazism (that does not mean all Muslims are), and people tried to warn about Nazism and were met by the same sort of ill-educated, knee-jerk denialism.

Make no mistake that evidence from numerous Islamic sources tell us that they want make a GLOBAL caliphate, every human being on the planet, under submission to Islam. ISLAM means SUBMISSION, an exact translation. And the vast majority of the Islamic world AGREES with this goal.

I know some nice, very likeable Muslims who share the beliefs of Western civilization, too, but that doesn't negate the stark reality, that THEY are in the minority.

Please wake up and do your homework people. Really thoroughly. For yourselves and everyone.

[nondhimmi]

07:51 AM on 05/25/2012

US MUSLIM JURISTS TELL MUSLIMS TO NOT OBEY US LAW BUT TO ‘HATE IT IN YOUR HEARTS’:
http://www.translatingjihad.com/2012/03/assembly-of-muslim-jurists-of-america.html

'There is a good and a bad side to studying foreign law. On the good side, it is in order to warn others of what’s in it, or to better understand what distinguishes it from the Shari’a, or to help protect Muslims from being oppressed by it, or to protect Muslims’ rights under the Shari’a. On the bad side there are those who do so to sow dissension (fitna), and prefer it over the Shari’a, or make it equal with the Shari’a, especially if the one who studies foreign law is devoid of knowledge, and doesn’t understand Islam'

This group is made up of prominent and influential Muslims in US business, law, education and government. You don't think these people need to be monitored?

A study done of 100 US mosques (80% funded by Saudi Arabia) found 84.5% of the mosques, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts

51% had texts on site rated as severely advocating violence
Fifty-eight percent of the mosques invited guest imams known to promote violent jihad

The Saudis have spent $87billion promoting orthodox Islam in the US/West which teaches hatred of non-Muslims and for Muslims to not assimilate, and building mosques and madrassas: http://www.marksilverberg.com/article/USA/WahhabisminAmerica/6

No other religious group does these things.

[Talab]

09:43 AM on 05/29/2012

By Way of Deception, Thou Shalt do War
Surah from the Quran ? nope ..... motto of Mossad

[nondhimmi]

11:33 AM on 05/30/2012

Talab, "By Way of Deception, Thou Shalt do War Surah from the Quran ? nope ..... motto of Mossad" You Muslims're the most adept people at lying to protect/promote Islam, just as Mohammed did and commanded you all to do too. Sadly, most westerners think your 'religion' teaches the same as what Jesus taught - love of all, nonviolence, tolerance, honesty, not to judge others, but that is not true. Mohammed was the antithesis of Jesus in every way. The AntiChrist. Your hatred of Jews and Israel makes you blame all ills in the world, even those caused by Islam on Zionism.

Now you claim Islam doesn't teach hate and war? You know it does. There isn't room here to post all the verses of hate, killing of unbelievers/non-Muslims, war and conquest in the Qur'an/hadith/sira (which has more hatred toward the Jews alone than Hitler's 'Meinkampf').

There are 3 types of lies Muslims are to use to defeat 'unbelievers':

Taqiyya - Saying something that isn't true

Kitman - Lying by omission

Tawriya - saying something that's technically true, but not meaning it how it sounds

You want all the verses of hate, deceit and war?

Bukhari (52:269) - "The Prophet said, 'War is deceit.'"

"Whomever Allah wants to deceive you cannot help. Allah does not want them to know the truth because he intends to disgrace them and then torture them." Q5:41

[nondhimmi]

06:59 AM on 05/25/2012

Here's what the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's largest membership org with numerous front groups in the US like CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MSA etc, which has been convicted in US courts as a funder of terrorism (and Obama has some as 'advisers' in his WH), has to say about their goal in the US/West in this captured document by the FBI:

'The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan (brotherhood) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack.'

Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/document/id/20

[fleen]

06:09 AM on 05/25/2012

For the LAPD to moderate their surveillance of Muslim communities is ridiculous. They are playing right into the hands of would-be terrorists that can easily conceal their activities from the camera's eye. Better to make an unpopular choice and keep top surveillance - than to rue the day the LAPD bowed down to pressure of opinion for moderation. There are many moderate Muslims - but when called to JIHAD - none of them would be 'moderate'.

[Charles W Noble]

09:46 PM on 05/24/2012

Being muslim has nothing to do with being a terrorist. Terrorism is a political act, not a religious one. In fact, geogrophy is a better predictor of terrorism than religion. There are muslims in Kazkistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia yet we dont' hear about terrorists from that region. If Islam was the most important variable in terrorism then statistically these countries should have as many terrorists as Yemen. I submit that geogrophy, political freedom of the nation, economics are significantly better variable of terrorism than religion.

[altoplano]

12:40 AM on 05/25/2012

"We should fully understand our religion. Fighting is a part of our religion and our Sharia. Those who love God and his Prophet and this religion cannot deny that. Whoever denies even a minor tenet of our religion commits the gravest sin in Islam."
--Osama bin Laden

[Charles W Noble]

03:07 PM on 05/25/2012

Hitler seeking power, wrote in Mein Kampf. "... I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a Reichstag speech in 1938.
Three years later he informed General Gerhart Engel: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." He never left the church, and the church never left him.

I think most people would argue that he was not a christian but was simply using the religion...but maybe you would disagree??? If you want to use additional examples, look at Australian aboriginals treatment using christianity as a pretext...

[fleen]

06:13 AM on 05/25/2012

Perhaps you did not hear of the Bali bombing 2 years ago that killed over 300 people - local and tourists...or the Muslim bombings in India 2008 and 2011? Haven't checked out the other countries yet - but I am sure you get my drift???

[Charles W Noble]

03:11 PM on 05/25/2012

One bali bombing...why don't you check out christian countries...bombing in norway, bombing in Oklahoma....lots of places....Bali is a rare instance in that region just as it is in norway or oklahoma.

[White Diamond]

12:33 AM on 05/24/2012

Oh dear, another multi-culti fail. If these people can do this to their own child, think about what they're planning for you and yours.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/23/11826008-dead-uk-teens-sister-our-parents-murdered-her-over-westernized-lifestyle?lite

[Doug Sandlin]

09:27 PM on 05/24/2012

"These people"?

How many Muslims do things like this?

[mountainwoman322]

12:56 AM on 05/25/2012

You can not condemn and entire religion or country because of a few cases. Get educated and stop the ignorance.

[White Diamond]

01:43 AM on 05/25/2012

A few cases? You are the one who is ignorant. Start with this:
A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam
Wafa Sultan
- There's more.