Adams taps 1st Muslim for panel eyeing NYPD probes into politics, terror

Mayor Adams on Tuesday appointed the first Muslim-American to a key NYPD panel that recommends whether political activity or suspicions of terrorism should be investigated.

Muhammad Faridi (photo), an attorney with the Patterson Belknap law firm, will replace former U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson, who previously served as the first civilian member of the Handschu Committee.

The committee’s creation stemmed from guidelines laid out in a 1985 federal consent decree as well as subsequent lawsuits that alleged improper probes into the Muslim community in 2017. It’s made up of several high-ranking members of the NYPD and is responsible for determining whether there’s a basis for opening, extending and closing probes into political activity, including terrorism investigations.

“This is a very important role,” Faridi said during a City Hall press conference Tuesday. “The work of this committee is of extraordinary importance, not just to the Muslim community, but to all communities in New York. The oversight structure that has been set up and approved by the federal court, it’s unprecedented. It’s extraordinary. And the role that the civilian representative has in that particular structure is also unprecedented.”

As the committee’s civilian representative, Faridi will be responsible for reporting any abuses of civil liberties to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and a federal judge.

Last April, Adams appointed Faridi to serve on his Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. He has also served as chairman of the New York City Bar Association’s executive committee, which he has continued to do work for. Faridi said Tuesday he would be stepping back from those responsibilities to focus more attention on his new role.

“As the first Muslim representative on this committee, that particular note is not lost on me. The Muslim community and all communities, I understand that they’re looking at me and they want to make sure that the NYPD does the right thing,” he said. “It’s some of the most important work that the NYPD does for our city and our country.”

Adams said choosing Faridi took on a personal significance for him given his time as an NYPD officer, his outspokenness against the department for some of their policies during that period, as well as the department’s efforts to keep tabs on him.

“As a lieutenant in the Police Department, I was under surveillance by the Police Department for a substantial period of time. And it came out in federal court that I was being followed by the department that I was a part of,” he said. “I advocated on behalf of making sure Handschu was doing its job correctly. And I heard from many of my Muslim brothers and sisters during the time that people were going into their mosques that they were following them.”

Adams added that he made the decision to tap Faridi not because “it’s politically correct,” but because it was, in part, based on a time in his life that he learned from and because it’s “the right thing to do.”

He lauded Faridi for his blue-collar background — Faridi’s father still drives a cab — and for attending John Jay College, Adams’ alma mater, and CUNY Law School. And he suggested that Faridi would serve as a formidable counterweight to the NYPD-heavy committee.

“You have to go in there and stand on behalf of what’s right,” he said. “We have a myopic view sometimes when we are in law enforcement. We view things differently, and we need that civilian oversight and view at the table because this is not a police state.”

Adams and Faridi also praised the role of the committee itself, with both describing it as a unique check on power.

When asked whether such oversight bodies should be replicated in other parts of the country, Adams answered in the affirmative.

“When I speak with my colleagues across the country, I think that people can learn from what the Handschu decision has brought about, and I think it’s something that could be duplicated,” he said. “I believe it’s a real plus, and hopefully others will look at what we are doing, having that civilian aspect of it — I just believe it’s crucial.”