Muslim community survey planned as rights groups question NYPD’s CIA ties

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By Stephen C. Webster

The connections between the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), revealed by an investigative report published this week by The Associated Press, are coming under heavy fire by a coalition of civil rights groups, who are demanding the city council immediately investigate the department.

"Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s insistence otherwise, it is clear that the NYPD is spying on entire communities without any particular suspicion of criminal activity," reads a statement from the Muslim-American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC). "Community-based surveillance falls well beyond the purview of even the NYPD’s broad preventative mandate."

With the CIA's help, the NYPD has gathered information on cab drivers, street level food vendors, ethnic book stores, Internet cafes and even mosques, sending snoops in to listen to sermons -- all without a hint of federal, state or local oversight, according to the report.

Part of their strategy involves the use of a "Demographic Unit," which the NYPD officially denied exists. One undercover officer quoted by AP said he was ordered to move into an ethnic neighborhood and "act like a civilian" so his monitors could use him like a "walking camera."

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/26/muslim-community-survey-planned-as-rights-group-questions-nypds-cia-ties/