NYPD Settles Lawsuit Over Muslim Surveillance In New Jersey

NEW YORK, NY — The NYPD settled a lawsuit Thursday over its post-9/11 surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey, pledging not to spy on religious groups without reason and agreeing to let the groups that sued give feedback on its policies. The settlement in New Jersey federal court came nearly six years after the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit challenging the NYPD's efforts to monitor and infiltrate Muslim groups there.

"We are proud that we stood up to the most powerful police force in the country and against the suspicion and ignorance that guided their discmininatory practices," Farhaj Hassan, a U.S. Army reservist and the lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.

The Police Department agreed to pay $75,000 in damages to the plaintiffs — who included Muslim individuals, organizations and businesses — and cover $950,000 of their legal fees, but did not admit to any wrongdoing.

The plaintiffs filed the suit in June 2012, arguing the NYPD illegally spied on at least 20 mosques, more than two dozen businesses, two schools and two Muslim student associations in what they called a discriminatory surveillance program that started in early 2002.

A series of Associated Press reports in 2011 uncovered the program, which also targeted Muslims in New York City and on Long Island. The Police Department has reportedly settled two other lawsuits related to the surveillance program. One settlement reached in March 2017 made the NYPD pledge several reforms to how it conducts investigations.

In the New Jersey settlement, the NYPD agreed not run investigations in which race, religion or ethnicity is "a substantial or motivating factor."

The Police Department agreed to seal certain reports the surveillance program generated and expunge, if possible, information its Intelligence Bureau collected about the plaintiffs. Much of that information was gathered by the Zone Assessment Unit, which was disbanded in 2014, the NYPD said.

Under the settlement, the plaintiffs also get to give feedback on a new policy guide and training materials the NYPD is developing for the Intelligence Bureau. And the NYPD agreed to have top officials appear at a public meeting with the plaintiffs in New York City where New Jerseyans can air their concerns.

"The resolution of this case affirms and enhances the NYPD’s commitment to conducting effective investigations to prevent crime and terrorism," Police Commissioner James O’Neill said in a statement. "This has occurred while also protecting the constitutional rights and freedoms that every NYPD employee takes a sworn oath to uphold."

The plaintiffs traveled a long legal road to reach the settlement. A New Jersey federal judge dimsissed the lawsuit in February 2014, but an appellate court reversed that decision and sent the case back to the original court in October 2015.

(Lead image: An NYPD officer walks by the crowd as people take part in a rally called "I Am A Muslim Too" in a show of solidarity with American Muslims at Times Square on Feb. 19, 2017. Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)