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                New York Police End Muslim Surveillance Program

   by VOA News

   The New York Police Department (NYPD) announced Tuesday that it has
   disbanded a clandestine unit of plainclothes detectives who ran
   detailed, invasive spying operations targeting the city's Muslim
   communities.

   The surveillance program by the NYPD Intelligence Division had come
   under fire by community activists who accused the department of abusing
   civil rights.

   The program relied on plainclothes officers to eavesdrop on people in
   bookstores, restaurants and mosques.

   The Demographics Unit, as the surveillance squad was known, operated in
   various neighborhoods both inside and outside the city, analyzing and
   mapping religious institutions, social clubs, recreational facilities
   and events, and all-around everyday life.

   A series of articles by the Associated Press news agency, in 2011,
   revealed the systematic spying by the New York police as part of a
   broad effort to watch communities where terror cells might operate.
   Individuals and groups were monitored even when there was no evidence
   they were linked to terrorism or crime.

   Since then, the Muslim community and various civil rights groups have
   demanded the program be stopped.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-police-end-muslim-surveillan
   ce-program/1894284.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-police-end-muslim-surveillance-program/1894284.html