By David Finnigan
Religion News Service
LOS ANGELES (RNS) After an angry outcry from Muslim leaders, the Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday (Nov. 14) canceled plans to create a “mapping” database on local Muslim communities to help pinpoint possible Islamic extremists.
“When they are talking about mapping gang areas, Mafia areas, it’s erroneous to transfer that model and then map a mainstream community,” said Salam Al-Maryati, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council.
“They are mapping criminal areas, and so when they say they want to map us, already they’re treating the Muslim community as suspects, not partners.”
The LAPD’s proposed Muslim mapping became a flashpoint earlier this month after the American Civil Liberties Union and Muslim groups publicly condemned it as a type of racial profiling.
Police officials dropped the plan after initially defending it.
Police Chief William Bratton scheduled a Thursday meeting with local Muslim leaders to ease tensions and open up dialogue.
“We’re seeking to increase the engagement with these communities, not antagonize,” Bratton said in a radio interview. “Mapping has a very positive connotation in policing. Unfortunately it’s equated sometimes with the term `racial profiling.”‘
Muslim leaders said mapping would be especially problematic because ethnicity and religion blend so easily in America, with Muslims and Jews both coming from Iran or Arab Muslims and Arab Christians emigrating from the same predominantly Muslim countries.
“Most Muslims live around non-Muslims,” Al-Maryati said. “There are no Muslim neighborhoods in Southern California.”
Al-Maryati said his office has successfully developed relationships with police agencies, including the FBI, but added that Muslims are afraid of being stereotyped as terrorists.
“Everybody wants to open up in the mosques,” he said, but added, “they don’t want their names and their addresses put on a law enforcement database.”
Copyright 2007 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted November 16, 2007 at 4:13 pm
“When they are talking about mapping gang areas, Mafia areas, it’s erroneous to transfer that model and then map a mainstream community,”
Seems reasonable. I can see why they’d be upset; It’s probably good they dropped it.
posted November 16, 2007 at 5:47 pm
This plan had zero chance from the get-go. How people personally feel about Islam, profiling, etc., there’s no possible way this could have gotten off the ground, regardless of the community being “mapped.”
posted November 16, 2007 at 9:33 pm
The LA Times article from the start said they were “thinking” about it, and if thinking about it drew this much response it was a far gone conclusion it wasn’t the best idea to proceed with. The good thing is that the leaders and the LA Dept, of terrorism talked to each other, and will probably keep a dialogue going in the future, where one can rely on the other.
posted November 18, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Well shoot! Without their mapping plan, the LAPD will have to rely on old fashioned police work and actually investigate individuals suspected of plotting criminal acts instead of targeting an entire religious group. Heck they might even have to hire Muslim police officers and reach out to the city’s Muslims.
There are a billion Muslims in the world The vast majority are peaceful with the same goals, ambitions, and dreams as any one else. The tiny minority who have carried various “terrorist” acts are macho idiots who have twisted the meaning of the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Mohamed to fit their own ideologies. The Qur’an teaches that war are violent behavior are sins that are to be used as a last resort when diplomacy has failed. When Muslims engage in warfare they are forbidden to engage in sneak attacks, forbidden to kill civilians, and forbidden to kill those who have surrendered or otherwise withdrawn from the fighting. So the acts we call terrorism are expressly forbidden by both the Qur’an and Islamic law. Mohamed wanted a peaceful and just society not war and bloodshed.
posted November 18, 2007 at 8:23 pm
More kicks at the LAPD? It wasn’t the LAPD’s jurisdiction, it was the Dept. of Terrorism Div. of LAPD.
posted November 18, 2007 at 11:44 pm
It is good to see that clearer hearts and minds have prevailed at LAPD. As things like this develop it becomes more obvious that what might work on paper takes on an entirerly different tone and significance in real life.
Congratulations, LAPD.