[GOTFIVEONIT]

L.A. police cancel offensive Muslim mapping plan

Sunday, 18 November 2007

Los Angeles, November 18: Following strong criticism from American Muslim leaders, police abandoned an offensive plan to “map” the Muslim community in Los Angeles.

The idea was proposed last month by Michael Dowling, head of the Los Angeles Police Department counterterrorism bureau, who claimed that mapping out Muslims would be part of the police efforts to counter “terrorism“.

Dowling described the plan as an "attempt to mitigate radicalization" in the second largest U.S. city, whose world class theme parks and Hollywood industry make it a potential target for a major attack.

The offensive plan drove a number of Los Angeles Muslim groups to mail the Southern California Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to express their criticism over the plan, which they say is “just as unlawful, ill-advised and deeply offensive as racial profiling”.

“We hope to receive a written statement from the chief on the demise of the plan, and a recognition of the pain it caused in our communities. We'll also wait to get new ideas of engagement from the chief," said Shakeel Sayed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.

“We certainly reject this idea completely. This stems basically from this presumption that there is homogenized Muslim terrorism that exists among us”, he added.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also expressed criticism over the offensive plan. Mapping "basically turns the LAPD officers into religious political analysts, while their role is to fight crime and enforce the laws,” said CAIR official Hussam Ayloush.

Even though Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa backed the plan at first and claimed that it was “well-intentioned“, he decided to scrap it, saying that it had created “a level of fear and apprehension that made it counterproductive”, reported.

In response to Muslims’ complaints, Los Angeles Police Department chief William Bratton announced last Thursday that the plan was cancelled. “It's actually been scrapped," Bratton told in an interview. "The Muslim community has made it quite clear over the past week ... that they really felt that it was inappropriate."

In an attempt to make sure that similar plans won’t be carried out in the future, ACLU promised to watch the LAPD closely.

“All Muslim organizations are united in purpose to defend the rights of Muslim-Americans while developing a positive and constructive relationship with the LAPD”, Salam Al-Marayati, The Muslim Public Affairs Council’s executive director, told.

It’s reported that around 500,000 Muslims live in the Greater Los Angeles area, which comes second after New York.