The New York City Police Department was revealed to have been monitoring Muslim students throughout New York state almost one week ago. The surveillance both demonstrates that the NYPD, unjustifiably, overreached its scope and found it correct to keep tabs on students for their religious beliefs.

Reports on students and Muslim student associations were prepared regularly for NYPD police commissioner Raymond Kelley. At one point, an undercover police officer went on a whitewater rafting trip with Muslim students, according to a report from The Associated Press. A report was then given to Kelley with students’ names and how many times they prayed. According to the AP report, the NYPD employed a student informant at Syracuse University.

Those who support profiling and the NYPD’s actions believe the police are looking out for the best interest of the public. By allowing the police to monitor any suspicious people, the public is better protected. But security, rather than a free expression of religion or speech, is what is most important.

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, said on his radio show that New York City made mistakes after the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. ‘We just cannot let our guard down again. We cannot slack in our vigilance,’ he said. ‘The threat was real. The threat is real. The threat is not going away.’

But the threat Muslim students pose is not clearly defined. The motivation for spying on Muslim students is also unclear. The NYPD has yet to provide convincing evidence that their resources have been wisely spent on this program.

The reason MSAs were examined is that 12 people who had once been a member of an MSA have either been arrested or convicted on terrorism charges, said Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman. There has been no suggestion the MSA-monitoring program has helped at all to prevent a terrorist attack. Being a member of an MSA is not enough to warrant surveillance. The link between being an MSA member and likelihood of being a terrorist has not been proven.

Another common line of reasoning in support of profiling follows the logic that ‘not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists have happened to be Muslims.’ Subscribers to this belief generally also believe Islam is mainly about destroying the United States and West. Further, they believe if Muslim students have nothing to hide, police should be able to monitor their activities.

There are flaws to these arguments. Not all terrorists have been Muslims. If we consider terrorism to be using fear to achieve a political means, the United States might as well have a problem with Christians and other religions, too.

Being targeted for one’s religion alone is just as morally and logically wrong as spying an entire race or political ideology. If a core principal of the United States is freedom from government intrusion, some Americans have forgotten this.

By spying on Muslim students, the NYPD alienates the very people it needs to help solve real crimes. To treat all Muslims as suspicious people will just undermine the police. Monitoring students is only part of what the NYPD has done. The AP reported Wednesday the police tried to find the location of Muslim businesses and obtain photographs of all mosques in the Newark area. The NYPD apparently has a policy of being suspicious of Muslims, but there is little to show it is helping.

Suspected criminals need to be spied on; ordinary people do not.

Harmen Rockler is a junior newspaper journalism and political science major. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached at horockle@syr.edu.   

 

Published on February 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm