Just a week after news broke that the NYPD showed 1,500 of its officers grossly Islamophobic propaganda, the AP is reporting new evidence that the police department is profiling on the basis of religion, conducting surveillance specifically of Shia Muslim, Iranian and Palestinian communities.
The May 2006 NYPD intelligence report obtained by the AP is entitled, “US-Iran Conflict: The Threat to New York City,” made a series of recommendations, including: “Expand and focus intelligence collections at Shi’a mosques.”
The report, drawn largely from information available in newspapers or sites like Wikipedia, was prepared for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. It was written at a time of great tension between the U.S. and Iran. That tension over Iran’s nuclear ambition has increased again recently.
Police estimated the New York area Shiite population to be about 35,000, with Iranians making up about 8,500. The document also calls for canvassing the Palestinian community because there might be terrorists there.