Friday, November 09, 2007

Isn't This Illegal?

Racial profiling is generally seen by civilized society as a no-no but not so much by the nation's police forces. True to form, the LAPD's "strategy" of documenting the Muslim communities of Los Angeles is sparking outrage while the LAPD Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing sees it as finding terrorist cells. I'm sorry Mr. Downing, but this sh*t just ain't gonna work.

From The Huffington Post:

The LAPD's counterterrorism bureau plans to identify Muslim enclaves in order to determine which might be likely to become isolated and susceptible to "violent, ideologically based extremism," said Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing on Thursday.

"We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities," said Downing, who heads the counterterrorism bureau.

(snip)

On Thursday, several Muslim groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent Downing a letter expressing "grave concerns" about the program.

"Singling out individuals for investigation, surveillance, and data-gathering based on their religion constitutes religious profiling that is just as unlawful, ill-advised and deeply offensive as racial profiling," said the letter.


It is unlawful, it is ill-advised and extremely offensive, not to only Muslims but society as a whole. Mr. Downing and the rest of the LAPD should be shamed out of trying to put this into practice, unless they have already started of course. You know, this wouldn't be the first time for the Los Angeles Police Department.