NYPD Asks Arrested Muslims To Become Anti-Terrorism Informants

In a front page article, today's New York Times reports that a special New York Police Department detective squad-- the Citywide Debriefing Team-- is regularly recruiting Muslims arrested on minor charges to become informants for the Department's anti-terrorism Intelligence Division. The Times describes the experience of several men:

Waiting in a New York station house cell or a lockup facility, expecting to be arraigned, only to be pulled aside and questioned by detectives. The queries were not about the charges against them, but about where they went to mosque and what their prayer habits were. Eventually, the detectives got to the point: Would they work for the police, eavesdropping in Muslim cafes and restaurants, or in mosques?

These revelations come less than a month after a lawsuit was filed in New York claiming that the FBI uses the No Fly List to coerce American Muslims to become informants. (See prior posting.)