A Los Angeles City Council committee is set Friday to discuss the city’s role in a federal government program intended to counter the recruitment of homegrown extremists to join terrorist groups such as Islamic State.
Los Angeles is one of three cities targeted to participate in the program known as Countering Violent Extremism, along with Boston and Minneapolis.
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement Thursday denouncing the program, saying it could result in racial profiling and the “possibility of subjecting members of our communities to unwarranted scrutiny and abuse.”
The Public Safety Committee is scheduled to take up a motion calling on the Los Angeles Police Department to “report on its countering violent extremism efforts.”
LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Downing of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau and members of the Human Relations Commission are expected to tell the committee about the proposal they will send to the Department of Homeland Security.
—City News Service