Colorlines, News Report, Posted: Aug 29, 2012

 We now know that the NYPD’s once secret program that for years spied on Muslims, striking a justified fear into the community’s core, never gleaned a single lead or terrorism-related investigation. In court testimony released last week the police official who oversees the controversial Demographics Unit admitted that the massive operation to spy on Mosques and Muslim community spaces led to no measureable benefit to public safety.

In a deposition taken on June 28 as part of civil rights litigation involving the surveillance program, Intelligence Chief Thomas Galati said “Related to Demographics,” the information collected “has not commenced an investigation.”

But more than a week after the acknowledgement, the city seems as convinced as ever that public safety relies on police regularly watching and documenting the movements, religious practices, conversations, name changes and student activities of New York’s Muslim communities. As the deposition made absolutely clear, the NYPD continues to operate within the confines of a belief that Muslims, by virtue of being Muslim, are prone to acts of terrorist violence and must be watched at all times.

Read more here.