Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford, held a rally Monday in front of New York City Police Headquarters along with a group of Muslims who support the NYPD's controversial surveillance of Islamic groups.
King told the group in lower Manhattan that police have to monitor such groups in order to fight the war on terror, according to the New York Daily News.
"If they were not doing what they were doing, to me they’d be negligent and remiss in their duties,” King said. “What they’re doing with their intelligence unit is what all police departments should be doing at all levels of government. It’s the job of the police department not to pick up the bodies after the attacks have been launched and carried out, but to stop those attacks from happening.”
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has come under fire after a series of Associated Press articles has detailed the NYPD's anti-terror operations since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"The few misguided individuals that showed up in support of the NYPD today do not speak on behalf of Muslim communities," Amna Akbar, a lawyer with the City University of New York School of Law's Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility program told the Huffington Post. "Through know your rights workshops, rallies at Foley Square and Wall Street and calls for federal, state and city investigations, Muslim communities have been loud and clear that the NYPD's surveillance policies are unwarranted, dangerous and divisive."
