title:  NYPD Commissioner OBLITERATES Ted Cruz’s ‘Fictional’ Knowledge Of Counterterrorism
text: In an op-ed that puts to rest any notion that Ted Cruz knows what he s talking about when it comes to terrorism and national security, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton did not hold back.In the wake of the ISIS attack on Brussels, the Texas Senator went on camera to call for mass surveillance of Muslims in communities across the country as well as increased police patrols in those neighborhoods. Because spying on and treating Muslims like criminals is going to somehow prevent them from radicalizing.Not so, says Bratton, who wrote in his op-ed in New York Daily News that what Cruz believes about Muslims is  fiction  and that the outcome he seeks is a  fairy tale. Recently, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz called for police to  patrol and secure Muslim communities before they become radicalized.  We already patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods, the same way we patrol and secure other neighborhoods,  Bratton wrote.We do not  patrol and secure  neighborhoods based on selective enforcement because of race or religion, nor will we use the police and an occupying force to intimidate a populace or a religion to appease the provocative chatter of politicians seeking to exploit fear.Nor will we accept the fiction of Sen. Cruz s narrative as presented. Cruz repeated the false reports surrounding the NYPD Demographics Unit and my decision to abolish it because it wasn t serving any useful purpose. He tried to depict the demise of the unit, as other ill-informed observers have done, as a knuckling under to the forces of political correctness rather than the sensible administrative decision that it was. The fact is that the former administration had allowed the unit to dwindle down to two investigators. Why? Because the work of the unit, which was to map the ethnic makeup of the city to better understand the domain of the New York metropolitan area, was finished. The two remaining detectives simply had little to do.Bratton then dropped the hammer on Cruz. It is clear from his comments that Sen. Cruz knows absolutely nothing about counterterrorism in New York City. We have in this city, without a doubt, the most effective and extensive counterterrorism capacity of any city in this country and virtually any city in the world. Bratton went on to literally list the taskforces that work hard to provide counterterrorism for New York City, including the Joint-Terrorism Task Force with the FBI, Critical Response Command, NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau, NYPD Intelligence Bureau, and the NYPD Domain Awareness System.In the end, Bratton explained that over 900 police officers under his command are Muslims who work hard to keep the city and their own families safe from terrorists every day and schooled Cruz on the Constitution before cautioning him to actually do some damn research before opening his mouth again.Sen. Cruz s references to the discontinuance of the Demographics Unit shows he has been hoodwinked by a 21st century fairy tale that refuses to die. He uses it in tandem with his suggestions that the police create a looming presence to intimidate Muslim neighborhoods with a show of force.In New York City, we protect all communities from crime and terrorism   yes, Muslim communities too   because like us, they are Americans who own businesses, work hard, pay taxes and dream of a better life for their children. Over 900 of them work in my police department as police officers, many of them in counterterrorism and intelligence. Many of them have served in the military and fought for their country. We police our city not by campaign slogans or inflammatory rhetoric, but by an old piece of parchment called the U.S. Constitution and another called the Bill of Rights.Ted Cruz and others seem to be willing to sideline these principles because what they stand for shifts with the tide of the campaign and the shrillness of the name-calling. But as it has been said, when you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. Sen. Cruz needs to do some homework before he speaks again.Enough said.Featured image via Flickr