January 26, 2012

MPAC is pursuing initiatives to demand changes of NYPD training practices and policies after news revealed over 1,500 NYPD officers were shown the bigoted film, The Third Jihad.

On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said police showed “terrible judgment” in showing the propaganda film, which paints Muslims as closet extremists, and pledged “we’ll find out” who was behind the decision.

SEE: In Shift, Police Say Leader Helped with Anti-Islam Film and Now Regrets It (New York Times)

SEE: In Police Training, a Dark Film on U.S. Muslims (New York Times)

According to a New York Times description of the film:

Ominous music plays as images appear on the screen: Muslim terrorists shoot Christians in the head, car bombs explode, executed children lie covered by sheets and a doctored photograph shows an Islamic flag flying over the White House.

“This is the true agenda of much of Islam in America,” a narrator intones. “A strategy to infiltrate and dominate America. ... This is the war you don’t know about.”

The Times reported that nearly 1,500 of New York’s 36,000-person force, or 1 out of every 25 officers, were shown the film. This report is based on documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School.

This contradicts NYPD Chief Spokesperson Paul Browne’s earlier statement that the film was shown “only a couple of times when officers were filling out paperwork before the actual course work began.”

“The real issue is that this bigoted propaganda was shown at all,” said Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC President. “The NYPD is actually feeding into the cottage industry of hate under the guise of countering violent extremism. It must acknowledge this egregious error and begin the process of rectifying this problem and seriously pursuing policy reforms. MPAC is demanding this process begin immediately.”

Any and all law enforcement training must adhere to the training guidelines established in October 2011 by the Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center.