9
The NYPD Runs Secret COINTELPRO Programs for All Brown People
Who runs the NYPD's secret terror investigation unit? NO ONE KNOWS. They won't tell you! But how does finding terror among us work? It's easy!
They came up with a makeshift solution. They dispatched more officers to Pakistani neighborhoods and, according to one former police official directly involved in the effort, instructed them to look for reasons to stop cars: speeding, broken tail lights, running stop signs, whatever. The traffic stop gave police an opportunity to search for outstanding warrants or look for suspicious behavior. An arrest could be the leverage the police needed to persuade someone to become an informant.
NEAT. Also: "The program was modeled in part on how Israeli authorities operate in the West Bank." That's just what we needed, a secret police force spying on citizens, it always ends so well. You really should read this.
I come here for happy thoughts. This is not give me happy.
Sure. Pakistani neighborhoods are JUST LIKE the West Bank. In that a non-trivial percent of the population would be glad to see it glassed and paved over. Ugh.
Is this just supposed to be an elaborate excuse for racial profiling that sounds better than, "We hire mindless goons for terrible entry-level salaries, and they're all racist and sexist?"
I mean, if I had to pick an uncomfortable truth, I'd go with this one.
@brianvan You do realize that the majority of NYPD new hires are minorities, right?
@brianvan: you rang?
I didn't need the Washington Post to alert me to the fact we live in a police state.
The way to fight terrorism is through effective police work and intelligence. This approach is certainly a more effective and less costly means of fighting terrorism than occupying Afghanistan or bombing Libya.
NYPD realizes that it can't rely upon the Feds to defend the City so they have quite rightly taken matters in their own hands. The problem with this approach though is that terrorist plots against NYC are more likely to be planned in Denver, London or Karachi than in Midwood.
@Lockheed Ventura The problem is also that it's possibly unconstitutional.
@Hammer Possibly unconstitutional, it depends on the details of the operation which are at this point unknown. There is a long history of NYPD officers going undercover or using informers for drug buys or infiltrating the Mafia. This may not be so different. We don't know yet.