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Arab-police relations studied in Yonkers

By Hannan Adely
The Journal News
Posted on Saturday November 5, 2005

YONKERS—There are six police officers of Arab descent in Yonkers, who help with Arabic translation in addition to their day-to-day patrolling duties. Police also deal daily with Arab doctors, nurses and other emergency workers in their line of work.

That kind of side-by-side work environment helps to break down stereotypes and foster respect between the police and the Arab-American community in Yonkers, community leaders say.

The relationship is now under review by the Vera Institute for Justice, a national nonprofit organization that is working to identify ways in which local, state and federal authorities can build trust and improve communication with Arab communities. The organization is studying four U.S. cities with large Arab populations, including Yonkers.

Arabs began settling in Yonkers in large numbers around 50 years ago, and have blended well into the area, which community leaders say has been a key factor in building trust with police and generally throughout the city.

“The Arab-American community is fully integrated here,” said Nader Sayegh, a Yonkers elementary school principal and an attorney who came from Jordan in 1957. “We were very productive and helpful to the city we live in.”

Police Commissioner Robert Taggart, in a recent interview, said he had Arab-American friends both in school and on the police force. The Police Department began recruiting Arab Americans more than 20 years ago, and invited Arab community leaders to speak to police officers about culture and custom.

Sayegh, who spoke years ago to recruits, pointed out cultural peculiarities — for example, that looking someone in the eyes is a sign of respect, or that getting elders involved as mediators could be instrumental in solving problems.

Working side by side in a diverse place like Yonkers helps to quell stereotypes or fears about Arabs or other any ethnic group, but the diversity of the city could also create a camouflage for terrorists, Taggart said.

“It’s a place where someone could come in and not be noticed, because it is such a melting pot,” he said.

Police would be letting their guard down, though, if they focused terrorism prevention on one ethnic group, said the commissioner.

“Terrorists have any kind of face or last name,” Taggart said. “We need to focus on people’s activities rather than their backgrounds.”

While local Arab Americans are upbeat about their relationship with local police, their attitude toward federal law enforcement is different because of perceived threats to their civil rights.

Some Arab Americans resent federal policies such as the 2002 mandatory registration of some Arab and Muslim immigrants, the deportation of immigrants on minor violations, and increased surveillance.

“The federal government has diminished or cut civil liberties for Arab Americans,” Sayegh said. “It has been done openly and to an extent where law enforcement would indicate that racial profiling was in place.”

Bassam Naber, who heads the Arab American Foundation, a Yonkers nonprofit, said he thinks that some of the actions of federal law authorities have gone too far, but that most Arab Americans are accepting of it as a precautionary measure in a post-Sept. 11 world.

“They do what they have to do,” he said. “Most of us have nothing to hide.”

Sayegh, too, said federal authorities need to be aggressive if they have legitimate reason to believe that there is a safety risk.

“I don’t want my kids worried about bombs when they go to the mall,” he said. “From our end, we’re just as concerned.”

The Vera Institute declined to comment on its study, citing confidentiality for the people involved. On its Web site, the institute says that in addition to finding helpful police strategies, it also wants to identify the security concerns and fears of Arab Americans.

Vera researchers, who interviewed police officials and Arab community leaders in Yonkers and held focus groups with community residents for the study, plan to release a report of their findings by February.