New York: New York's mayor said Wednesday that
New York police used "terrible judgement" in showing officers a film about Muslims that Islamic groups have said is inflammatory.
Michael Bloomberg said commanders have stopped showing
the movie, "The Third Jihad," which contends Muslims are bent
on establishing an Islamic regime worldwide. The film, which
was played during counter-terrorism training seminars, was
bankrolled by a conservative group called the Clarion Fund,
according to The New York Times.
"Somebody exercised terrible judgement," Bloomberg said.
"As soon as they found out about it, they stopped it."
The criticism was unusual for Bloomberg, who in recent
months vigorously defended the police department's counter-terrorism efforts after an Associated Press investigation exposed a secret program to gather intelligence on Muslim neighbourhoods.
Bloomberg said neither he nor Police Commissioner Ray
Kelly knew about the film being shown.
Muslim groups have said the film exaggerates radical
Islamic elements.
The movie was shown on a continuous loop while officers
were signing in for counter-terrorism training from October to
December 2010, according to police documents obtained by the
Brennan Centre for Justice, a legal think tank at New York
University. As many as 1,489 officers may have seen it, the
documents say.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said the movie was
not among the official training materials and that the
decision to play it in the background at the training sessions
was made by a sergeant who has been reprimanded.
"This was never used in training, period. It was never
authorised for use in training, period," Browne said.
Police originally said only a few officers had seen it.
Police stopped showing the film after a trainee complained.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 10:02