Legal News

Potential terrorism foiler program a civil rights minefield

By Richard Binder

A new system to report suspicious activities that officials say could uncover terrorism plots is being embraced by a growing number of law-enforcement agencies, as civil liberties groups focus on the program's potential for violation of individual rights.

In Los Angeles, as well as in nearly a dozen other cities, officers are filling out terror tip sheets if they run across activities in their routines that seem out of place, like someone buying police or firefighter uniforms, taking pictures of a power plant or espousing extremist views.

Ultimately, state and federal officials intend to have a nationwide reporting system in place by 2014, using a standardized system of codes for suspicious behaviors for a network of databases to be used to predict acts of terrorism.

The ACLU and Muslim-American groups in the area view the new program with suspicion.

Commander Joan T. McNamara, assistant commander of the counterterrorism bureau, has said the Los Angeles program has not foiled any terrorism plots, but 67 of the reports had been referred to the local Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Full story at New York Times.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).