New York Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton, is not a fan of fools. That will explain why Bratton took offense to a statement by Republican presidential candidate, Ted Cruz, who, in response to the deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels, called for increased police surveillance in Muslim neighborhoods as the answer to stop ISIS and Islamic extremist terrorists.
“He doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, to be quite frank with you. I took great offense to that statement,” Bratton said. “I have almost 1,000 Muslim officers in the NYPD. Ironically when he’s running around here we probably have a few Muslim officers guiding him.”
Cruz was confronted by the comment when he appeared on “CBS This Morning” later, and replied:
“It’s not surprising that the Democratic political henchmen of Mayor de Blasio are coming after me, and that is on the instructions of Mayor de Blasio,” Cruz said.
Cruz continued, pointing to an earlier program put in place by former mayor Michael Bloomberg, which Cruz said “worked proactively with the Muslim community to stop radicalization.”
“Mayor de Blasio decided to come in, and decided that political correctness mattered more than keeping before safe… he disbanded the program,” Cruz said.
The Muslim surveillance program, or “Demographics Unit,” or “Zone Assessment Unit” in New York City was disbanded in 2014 . Law enforcement officials have admitted the program, which began in 2003 in wake of the 9/11 attacks, never generated any viable leads, CBS New York reported in an earlier story.
