NYPD sued for noncompliance with Freedom of Information Act request
Friday, September 28, 2012 at 10:01 am by Annette MacalusoThe NYPD is yet again being sued by advocacy organizations for refusing to reveal documents about surveillance in Muslim schools, businesses, mosques, and other organizations in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Muslim Advocates and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a lawsuit this past week in the New York Supreme Court after the refusal under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Muslim Advocates filed the lawsuit last week in New York State Supreme Court after the New York Police Department declined a request to provide records under a year-old Freedom of Information Law request. The documents include information about places that Muslims came together, monitored schools, and recorded conversations. Police claim that the surveillance program is completely legal. They say that when there are leads in a case they have the right to closely watch an entire community to conduct a proper investigation. However, this close watch is infringing upon Muslim civil rights to privacy. The NYPD took up to six months to reply to the demand and what was handed over “amounted to little more than a categorical denial.”
This only continues the NYPD’s abominable record on warrantless surveillance and profiling. If these actions that so blatantly violate the civil rights of many Americans are not addressed with serious consequences, the citizens of this country may need to reconsider their relationship to law enforcement. The lawsuit was filed on September 18, 2012 and is currently pending in Court.
Tags: Freedom of Information Act, Islamophobia, NYPD, religious profiling
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September 29th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
[...] NYPD sued for noncompliance with Freedom of Information Act request (constitutioncampaign.org) [...]