Major Michael Ronczkowski of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau told the committee that “Islamist extremists represent a fringe element within the Muslim community inside the United States.”
He was of the view that if law enforcement personnel (federal, state and local) can have a basic understanding of the Islamic culture and the roots of extremist ideology, such as that posed by Wahabism and the Muslim Brotherhood, they will be better equipped mentally to identify behavior patterns of extremists. Just as within Christianity there are different denominations and individually held beliefs within each and the same can be said about Islam, he added.
Major Michael Ronczkowski argued that outreach and partnership with the public is crucial if local law enforcement is going to have any impact on the growth of violent Islamist extremism or the identification of any violent threat that may be developing in the homeland.
Los Angeles Police Department’s “Mapping” (profiling) plan
At the hearing Michael P. Downing, Commanding Officer, Counter-Terrorism/Criminal Intelligence Bureau Los Angeles Police Department, unveiled its "community mapping" plan. The intelligence-guided mapping plan, which was to be carried out in conjunction with the Homeland Security Department’s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at the University of Southern California, would collect information about Muslim communities in the Los Angeles area in an effort to identify who the Muslims are and where the Muslims reside.
According to Downing’s written testimony, once the Muslims in the Los Angeles area are identified, the LAPD would then, "take a deeper look at their history, demographics, language, culture, ethnic background, socio-economic status, and social interactions."
It looked a pilot profiling project as there are estimated 500,000 Muslims living in the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange and Riverside Counties, which make its concentration of Muslims the second largest in the United States, after New York City. According to Downing, if this program is successful it could be implemented in other major US cities.
Michael Downing also suggested that the study would result in helping amplify the voice of Muslim moderates who could counter fanatics. His suggestion raises two basic questions: The first question is who is a moderate Muslim? In other words who is going to decide, who is a moderate? If the police are entrusted with the task of ‘mapping’ Muslims, it means, it is going to decide who and where are the moderate Muslims in their jurisdiction. What criteria will be used? Will it be based on one’s religious beliefs or sect or his/her political views? Will the Muslims who criticize US foreign policy and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq be considered as moderates? Will the police seek guidance from the think tanks like the semi-official Rand Corporation which has tried to give a definition of a moderate Muslim?
And the second question is how to identify a moderate Muslim? Will there be inquisition of Muslims for their religious beliefs? Already there are many reports that Muslims are asked by the FBI about their religious beliefs and if they are practicing Muslims or not. Will police plant agents to gather such information about the Muslims? In other words, the ‘mapping operation’ will be a mask for intelligence gathering.
Not surprisingly, there was an uproar in the American Muslim community and many civil right groups and individuals about the ”Mapping” project that was in fact profiling of the 500,000 Muslims living in the greater Los Angeles.
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