NYPD and Muslim Leaders Work to Improve Relations and Leadership

By Alison Lesley --
16 Jun 2015 --

The New York Police Department and NY’s Muslim community are working together to expand the Muslim police force and strengthen their counterterrorism message.

The New York Police Department took a massive turn around with the installation of the new commissioner, William Bratton. Muslim leaders and police connected at the police headquarters to talk about the situation, the past, and how it can be improved. As of right now, there are only 800 Muslim police officers in the NYPD and a mere 20 are highly ranked officials, according to the NYPD Muslim Officers Society. According to the commanding officer in the Community Affairs Immigration Outreach Unit, Lt. Adeel Rana, a change is coming and it’s coming fast, “and as they see people of their own religion in uniform, their eyes brighten.”

Muslim Leaders and NYPD Working Together

From what John Miller, the NYPD’s department deputy commission for counterterrorism and intelligence, had to say, they are doing their best to work with Muslim leaders and members of the community to find the best way to strengthen their counterterrorism message. The officers want the citizens to understand that each and every community is “one of our communities” and that the officers are “your police.”

Police will be ramping up protection around mosques next week as the holy month of Ramadan starts, and dozens of… http://t.co/VOP4sUH45X
— CAIR New York (@CAIRNewYork) June 19, 2014

At the meeting on Monday, William Bratton said that after all the hard work they had done to regain trust, they won’t make any decisions that would burden or harm that trust. Instead, he and his officers want to encourage others in the recruitment and broadening the diversity of the NYPD. They further discussed the strategies Islamic State has taken online to attempt to radicalize the youth of the US. Daisy Khan, Women’s Islamic Initiative, said that the meetings “are important” towards rebuilding trust and working together. She added that, “The Muslim community cannot root out extremism without the help of law enforcement and law enforcement cannot really eliminate all the terrorists in the world without the help of the Muslim community.”