NYPD Working To Increase Ranks Of Muslims In Department
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City police officials are working to recruit more Muslims.
Right now, there are about 800 Muslim uniformed police officers out of about 35,000. Of those, only about 20 are higher ranked officials.
The commanding officer of the community affairs immigration outreach unit, Lt. Adeel Rana, said Monday there's been a slow increase over the past decade.
NYPD Working To Increase Ranks Of Muslims In Department
But that's changed quickly since the new administration took over.
In addition to the department's youth cricket league and soccer league, the NYPD is also expanding a cadet program where college students are given stipends and fast-tracked to a job.
Officers also attend community meetings and fairs.
A video played during the department's annual pre-Ramadan conference showed dozens of uniformed officers who are Muslim saying: "We are your NYPD."
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton also asked the Muslim community for help in battling the sophisticated recruiting efforts of ISIS.
Bratton asked for "parents, imams, business leaders, if they see that somebody is becoming radicalized, to attempt to do something to stop that, because once they become radicalized, it's so difficult. We have not really figured out quite what to do with somebody who's become radicalized."
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