Hey, look at it this way folks if the NYPD has a taxi then there is at least one cab that’s probably looking for black passengers.
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Really? I thought the Sikh community had taken a huge share of the taxi market. I may be out of date.
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It’s very anecdotal, but I’d say that almost half the drivers I’ve had in the last couple years (and I probably average about 2 taxis per week, mostly late at night) had clearly Muslim names. Obviously I have no idea if they’re actually practicing Muslims, but I doubt if they’re Sikhs (I rarely see drivers with traditional Sikh turbans and beards).
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The car the reporters “discovered” is parked at the building where NYPD’s “Intelligence” Division is based. It’s located at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park on 2nd Ave between 58th and 63rd Streets. Let’s see if they can find the K9 training course or the Harbor Division docked by the water.
The police have been using taxis for the anti-crime units (the ones who show up when a street crime occurs) since I remember, going back to the Koch days. The cars carry 2 or 3 officers, with 2 in front usually. The medallions are legit, although they never seem to keep the cab updated to TLC rules (old stickers, medallions). They also never run as a “for hire” cab.
It makes sense for the police to use yellow taxis to profile muslims. If you ever passed a mosque at prayer time in Manhattan, the cabs are double-parked down the block. But since most cops assigned to surveillance aren’t from the same background/religion as the worshippers, they stand out like a sore thumb.
Doesn’t anybody else remember the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines classic “Running Scared”? This isn’t exactly a new idea if Hollywood used it almost thirty years ago.
Also, I have to wonder - how does one define “indiscriminate and probably illegal spying” by the police? Anything that happens that is viewable from a public street is, by nature, public information. And if you’re police out looking for criminal activity in public, I’d assume you’d want it to be indiscriminate - that is, watching everyone, and not targeting a specific group, as is alleged in the second paragraph.
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To be fair, I live in a neighborhood with several Egyptian Coptic Christian Churches and they are also staked out by NYPD - sometimes marked, sometimes unmarked - and it seems pretty obvious they are there because there is a tangible potential threat due to global events. While I’m sure there’s lots of unsavory surveillance going on, it’s not exactly taking all possibilities into account to assume a cop car outside a mosque is there for the wrong reasons. Just saying, there may be a level view to some of this. And it is true: the police are hardly hiding themselves well when they do this stuff. I have to assume they know that, too.
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Several people have balked at the “probably illegal spying” aspect.
Here is the relevant quote explaining why this activity is illegal, [in case you missed it][1].
The rules were part of a settlement to civil rights litigation over
the fact that “during the 1960s and 1970s, the department had used
informants and undercover officers to infiltrate anti-war protest
groups and other activists without any reason to suspect criminal
behavior.”
You see, spying on citizens who have not commited a crime is illegal.
[1]: http://gawker.com/5833984/how-the-nypd-turned-itself-into-a-little-cia
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Never mind medallion numbers: if you see a cab on the street during a heavy rainstorm (when all real cabs seem to either fill up or disappear), it’s probably NYPD undercover. Similarly, if it doesn’t drive back to Queens for the 5pm shift change, view it with suspicion.
I used to see a ‘cop cab’ in my neighborhood from time to time. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but my impression was that it looked a little ‘sportier’ than other cabs: something about the wheel rims? And I don’t think it has one of those light-up advertising displays on the roof.
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who’s spying on who here? my feeling: this jackass is the same one who’ll say too little was done when (not IF) the shit hits his fan. the same guy who thinks it’s only ‘fair’ to pull little white haired grandma’s and ray charles out of line at the airport. Meanwhile, Mujahideen convince little kids they wont get hurt when their strapped on bomb goes off. If you think there aren’t elements looking to exploit the weaker religious, you haven’t been watching your 700 club.
sitting on a public street, watching what other people do in public is not spying.
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As a tourist in New York I saw several of these cabs parallel parked along side regular police cars outside of a NYPD Precinct. I really don’t think they are a secret, when you peer into one you can quickly tell they are more equipped like a typical police car than cab.
Bottom line, all police and military operations require MASSIVE scale downs. Budget cuts and layoffs. Budget cuts and layoff. At this point I would confiscate night sticks. America must take off the combat boot and put on regular civilian shoes. The are no real wars to fight.
The other military and police operations in the news are just war crimes and human rights abuses.
Strong in this thread, the skeptic trolls are!
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Of course it is spying. Watching people on the street and recording their public activities is spying 101.
I’ve personally been ticketed by an undercover cab-driving cop (for seat belt infraction), so i know they aren’t just using them to surveille mosques.
it’s also the primary job activity for every beat cop, foot patrol officer, traffic cop, security guard, photojournalist and investigative journalist.
that doesn’t make it spying.
I see what you did there.
Bleh
Of course it is spying. You dont’ have to put on a coat and hat and sneak around to spy. This isn’t TV.
For your edification, here are some definitions of Spy and Spying
3. One who secretly keeps watch on another or others
- to observe or search for something
Yes, those people are operating as spies. Furthermore, if they gather information about persons not currently under investigation, that act of spying is also illegal.
that is sheer pedantic idiocy.
beat cops are spies. photojournalists are spies. if i sit at a coffee shop and sketch passers-by, i’m a spy. spies are everywhere! look out! your freedom is under attack!
