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After the Associated Press revealed that the NYPD was conductingsurveillance of Muslims on the basis of their religion, legalscholars immediately began to debate whether the NYPD's program wasa violation of the First Amendment. Now, the issue is set to beheard in a federal courtroom in New Jersey. A group of New Jersey residents, mosques, and organizations onWednesday filed a federal lawsuit against the City of New York,accusing the NYPD of violating their constitutional rights bytargeting them for surveillance outside of mosques, in Muslimstudent group meetings, and at religious schools on the basis oftheir religion. The lawsuit could help define how far investigatorscan go in the name of national security. The facts are just so compelling, what the NYPD is doing isegregious. It may be going on in other law enforcement agencies,but the AP reports are a smoking gun that they are targeting peoplebased on religion, says Glenn Katon, legal director of MuslimAdvocates, a California-based nonprofit that is representing theplaintiffs. So far, the NYPD's tactics have included sending an officer on astudent whitewater rafting trip to note how frequently participantsstopped for prayer, taking down the license plate numbers of carsparked at mosques, and noting patrons and employees in shopscatering to observant Muslims. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said that police need to do thistype of work in a post-9/11 world. In a statement, NYPD DeputyCommissioner Paul Browne referred to New Jersey Attorney GeneralJeffrey Chiesa s determination that the surveillance efforts werelegal. Mr. Browne added that NYPD activities in New Jersey werelawful, appropriate, and in keeping with efforts there, in NewYork, and around the world to prevent terrorists from returninghere to kill more New Yorkers. The plaintiffs, who are suing to end the surveillance and toexpunge the police files, think a jury will disagree. They say thatthe police have deterred their free exercise of religious beliefand hurt Muslim businesses. Those suing the City of New York include Syed Farhaj Hassan, adecorated veteran from the war in Iraq. Mr. Hassan says thesurveillance has deterred him from attending religious servicesbecause he does not want his military intelligence career harmed byan association with mosques being monitored. Among other plaintiffs are a college student who says she doesn tfeel free discussing matters of religion at Muslim student meetingsfor fear that she may be watched by undercover cops, and businesseswho say they ve lost customers after the revelation that they wereunder surveillance. We thought that these things were left behind during the McCarthyera, targeting people based on race and religion alone, vilifyingan entire community, says Abed Ayoub, legal director of theAmerican-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. We need someaccountability. If we allow the NYPD to do this we are throwing ourright to privacy away. Though this is the first lawsuit to challenge the NYPD tactics, Mr.Ayoub thinks it won t be the last. This is probably only thebeginning of the challenges that are going to come forward, both onthe legal and the policy level. For a jury to determine that the surveillance tactics are illegal,the plaintiffs will have to show that the police programimpermissibly harmed the free exercise of religion. Mr. Katon says that some people defend the surveillance by sayingthat it only happens in public places. But, he says, Anything that targets people based on religion orrace poses a serious problem in our society. If you said we reonly going to watch Catholics; or we re only going to watch Kosherdelis but not German or Italian delis, that should offendeverybody. I am an expert from portablepaamplifier.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Portable PA Amplifier , Dual UHF Wireless Microphone System Manufacturer, USB Wireless Amplifier,and more.
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