A Brooklyn Assemblyman says the NYPD is handcuffed by political correctness in the war on terrorism - and should profile subway passengers for bag searches.
"The individuals involved look basically like this," Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) said yesterday, brandishing a printout of the FBI's most wanted terrorists - all with Arabic names, most with facial hair, some wearing turbans.
"Why should a policeman have to think twice before examining people of a particular group?" Hikind asked. "They all look a certain way. It's all very nice to be politically correct here, but we're talking about terrorism."
The NYPD's random bag checks at subway stations are pointless if they force 75-year-old grandmothers to open their purses, but not people who fit the "terrorist profile," he said.
But the NYPD says it isn't in the profiling business - and doesn't think singling out members of an ethnic group would work, anyway. "Racial profiling is illegal, of doubtful effectiveness, and against department policy," the NYPD said in a statement.
Some subway riders were dubious as well, saying profiling Middle Eastern men on the subway would take away from the freedoms that allNew Yorkers are supposed to share.
Mahmoud El-Bouridy, 26, who came to Queens from Egypt, said profiling would be unfair to folks like him.
"That's very bad," said El-Bouridy, who runs a cell phone store. "We left our countries for liberty, freedom. I would feel discriminated against."
Ron Nesbitt, 30, of the Bronx, said profiling is an invasion of civil liberties.
"We're fighting a war in Iraq. Our freedoms are diminishing while we're fighting for theirs," said Nesbitt. "I'm not sure if the enforcers even know what they're looking for."
But others said Hikind may have a point.
"I think it's more rational to limit your search," said Lisa Wood, 22, a paralegal from Harlem. "There's no way they can search everyone
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