Bernard Kerik: Ted Cruz Wrong About Policing Muslim Neighborhoods
Philadelphia (CBS) - Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik rejected Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz's assertion that law enforcement needs to do a better job patrolling Muslim neighborhoods, saying that police are already there and in every other neighborhood in their communities.
Kerik, during an interview with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said Cruz is off base and lacks a clear understanding of the issue.
"Police already patrol every neighborhood, not just Muslim neighborhoods. They patrol every neighborhood. I think that's where Ted Cruz fell off the chart. This isn't about going out and re-instituting policing in Muslim neighborhoods. Forget who is in the neighborhood. I think what he should've focused more on is how we're going to investigate, how we're going to conduct surveillance, how we're going to criminal profile, or terrorist profile groups that are responsible for criminal conducts, terrorism, in this country. How do you do that? It's not patrolling Muslim neighborhoods. That's not going to happen. The police departments in New York City and every city in this country, they patrol every neighborhood equally."
He believes fighting terrorism is about techniques the police use, not about their lack of presence in certain areas.
"We're looking for terrorists. Unfortunately, this group of terrorists is using the Muslim faith as their excuse to go out and mass murder people. That's the issue. How we do that, where we do that, when we do that, that's the real issue. I don't think Senator Cruz thought of that before he opened his mouth and started talking."
Kerik also vigorously defending the concept of profiling and insisted it has nothing to do with race.
"Investigative, surveillance, profiling. This isn't about racial profiling. This is about criminal profiling. It's a criminal profile. The people you're looking for, what they do, who they are, where they go, how they respond, how they act, what kind of phones they have. That's all criminal profiling. It falls within the investigative tools of law enforcement...Now because you have the Muslim religion involved and, basically, these radical people, they have hijacked the Koran...because you want to investigate and surveil them, profile them. Now it's racial profiling."