Somali community questions surveillance

By Michael Canfield and Jacob Tierney
BengalNews Reporters

 It’s been two months since a leaked document emerged detailing the NYPD’s surveillance of the Somali community in Buffalo, and members of that community are still wondering why they were being watched.

 The document, issued on January 2, 2009, outlined several steps the NYPD had taken in Buffalo, including meeting with then Erie County Undersheriff Richard Donovan and discussed area schools with high populations of Somali students. It’s unclear from the report if or when the NYPD’s Security Intelligence Unit stopped conducting intelligence operations in Buffalo. It’s also unclear whether any arrests had been made as a result of the surveillance.

Lafayette High School was chosen for surveillance because of its large number of immigrant and refugee students.

 Several attempts to contact Mary Murray, the Erie County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, went unanswered, as did several phone calls and emails to the NYPD.

  The Somali community in Buffalo has a lot of good, hard working people in it, said Yahye Omar, executive director of H.E.A.L. Internationaland chairman of the Imams Council of WNY. If police know about someone who is involved with illegal activities, they should be pursuing that person. Where the line gets blurry, is when police don’t have a reason.

 “The thing is that, for no reason, they stereotype,” Omar said. “They say, ‘You are Muslims and you come from such and such country, you are a bad guy.’ That’s something wrong.”

 There are three types of people in the Somali community when it comes to the spying, he said. For some, it doesn’t matter. Others are more upset about it.

 “Some say, ‘Why us only?’ and some of them say ‘Why don’t we have the same rights and respect as the others?’” Omar said.

 The Somali community works with local law enforcement when necessary, and has a good rapport  with them. That’s why it was surprising to Omar to find out that the NYPD was watching Somalis in Buffalo. 

Mosques in WNY, like this one on Connecticut Street, were targets of NYPD surveillance.

 “We have local law enforcement here, and they know us, we know them and we work together. To come from another place and become involved, that’s a kind of ridiculousness. It’s important that the rights of those living in the Somali community are upheld, Omar said. "(The NYPD) can’t do anything they want, if the Constitution gives them the right, then they can do it.”

 Since the report was made public, Omar acknowledged that it might lead to people being suspicious of the Somali community. The community, however, has nothing to hide. While it’s not clear whether Somalis in Buffalo are still being watched, there isn’t a lot to watch, Omar said.

 “We go home, we go to the Mosque, we come back from the Mosque, that’s the routine that we do,” he said. “We go to the restaurant, we eat. If this is wrong, that’s another case.”

 Despite the concerns raised by the release of the document, the Somali community is ready to help if the NYPD needs them and has a reason to be there.

 “If they look up certain people, and think they’re bad, it’s up to them,” he said. “They have to do their job. If we have some people that are bad, we have to stop them.”