Why San Francisco鈥檚 police chief is apologizing to Muslims
| San Francisco
Ever since he suggested that this city鈥檚 buildings needed fortification against possible attacks from Yemeni or Afghan residents, Police Chief George Gasc贸n has been doing a lot of apologizing.
The San Francisco police chief made the comments last week when bolstering the case for an upcoming ballot measure for the construction of a new police headquarters and for other seismic improvements.
While Chief Gasc贸n says he meant to make the point that San Francisco鈥檚 building needed greater safeguards against possible attacks, the Muslim community didn鈥檛 take too kindly to being singled out as culprits of any future domestic terrorism.
Since his remarks were reported last week, Chief Gasc贸n has met with the Yemeni consulate, made amends with local Arab leaders, and spoke to more than 1,000 local Muslims following Friday prayers at a downtown San Francisco Holiday Inn.
'No offense intended'
鈥淚 never had the intent of creating an offensive situation,鈥� said Gasc贸n. 鈥淚 have the utmost respect for Yemeni and Afghan community.鈥�
The San Francisco police department moved quickly to make amends with the local Arab community with good reason. Local and national law enforcement agencies have been attempting to make inroads into local Muslim communities to improve counterterrorism operations.
Over the past several years, more than 60 Muslim-American have been implicated in terrorism-related plots. Recently, Denver airport shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi was charged with attempting to explode bombs in New York subways, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations charged two men, in Texas and Illinois, with attempting to carry out attacks.
鈥淲e need to create a culture of cooperation," says Adel Syed, civil rights coordinator for the Sacramento branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). But, he says, 鈥渨e don鈥檛 want to be treated as suspect communities.鈥�
Complaints about FBI profiling
Since 9/11, some Muslim groups have accused the FBI of going too far in trying to investigate Muslims. Last year, a coalition of groups charged federal agents with planting 鈥渁gent provocateurs in Muslim communities." And many Muslim groups have long complained about FBI profiling.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has suggested that police departments take a community policing tact when trying to build relationships in Arab communities.
Mr. Syed says that one police department that鈥檚 doing it right is the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which has started a
鈥淥ne major reality in the fight against terrorism is that Muslim communities are in the best position to discover extremist activities within the United States,鈥� Los Angeles County Sheriff LeRoy Baca on homeland security last month. 鈥淭he trust-based relationships police develop with their respective communities will more often than not lead to the early detection of extremism.鈥�
In San Francisco, the crowd of mostly Muslim men gathered inside a conference room at the Holiday Inn, cheered when Gasc贸n made his most-recent apology. 鈥淭he only way we can make our community safer is by working together,鈥� he said
