Now, do the police make you feel more or less safe?
Its a wonder local police chiefs take phone calls from the Justice Department anymore. Police officers have been under incredible stress since September 11th. They're helping the FBI track down leads, possible accomplices and more information on the 19 hijackers. At the same time they're ratcheting up security and are on constant alert for possible future threats. And now John Ashcroft would like them to go door to door asking 5,000 Middle Eastern and Pakistani men who arrived here in the past two years, "Are you a terrorist?"
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Most Arab and Pakistani Americans are law-abiding citizens or immigrants. But many came to this country to escape repressive regimes and they're naturally suspicious of law enforcement. When cops and federal agents knock on your door and start asking a lot of questions, it's bound to be a little unnerving. It could sound like theyre putting together a database of suspects to round up if there's another attack.
Despite the dangers, some police chiefs have said theyll do it — anything to help crack down on terrorism. Others, like Detroit Police Chief Charles Wilson, have asked the feds to sit down with him and figure out an effective way to do this without upsetting the Muslim community. Thursday, Wilson met with Arab-American community leaders, an Arab-American deputy in his department and the local assistant U.S. attorney. His goal was to find the best way to ease the communitys fears while helping the feds do their job. He's training his officers how to handle this sensitively. Still, hes not happy to be questioning men who are not suspects to anything. "I investigate crimes," says Wilson.
U.S. attorneys in Michigan, a state with one of the largest Arab-American populations in the country, have tried to ease fears by sending letters to all the men on their list inviting them to the interviews and saying it can take place wherever they choose. But in Oregon three cities have refused or are considering refusing, saying the whole thing smells of racial profiling. "Give us some legitimate reason to talk to the people — other than that they're from the Middle East — and we'll be glad to," Eugene police spokeswoman Pam Alejandere told reporters. The feds are starting the interviews in Oregon anyway. Theyll just do it without local help.
Wilson and other chiefs' efforts to compromise with the feds is the best hope for locals to make the process as painless as possible. If Ashcroft and Justice insist on these interviews, cops should work with them and try to limit the damage. The feds have shown an increasing willingness to work with local police. "The interaction between federal authorities and local police has improved since September 11th," says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. Wexler credits a lot of that to FBI Director Robert Mueller. After some initial heavyhandedness by the feds, Mueller has worked tirelessly to keep cops informed and involved.
But is this all worth it? Much of the FBIs investigation seems to be a fishing expedition. The dragnet that picked up over 1,200 people — 641 of whom are still in custody — seems to have netted a lot of people guilty of minor immigration offenses but little else. Justice officials have admitted that only two dozen have any real, demonstrable terrorism links. As for the random interviews, shouldnt the feds be working harder to develop ties with the Muslim community, rather than casting a suspicious eye on them? They need good relations to pick up informants and tips — not random questioning.
"It's the Perry Mason School of Law Enforcement, where you get them in there and they confess," former FBI assistant director Kenneth P. Walton, who established the first Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York City told the Washington Post. "Well, it just doesn't work that way. You say, 'Tell me everything you know,' and they give you the recipe to Mom's chicken soup."