The Demographics unit ( later known as the Zone Assessment Unit ) was a secret police intelligence division formed after the September 11 attacks to surveil Muslim Americans . Police Spokespersons did not publicly acknowledge the unit until after the Associated Press revealed the organization through a Pulitzer Prize award winning series of articles . The unit 's techniques included eavesdropping on conversations held in public locations , gaining access to internet usage by muslim groups on college campuses by claiming to be investigating narcotics or gang activity , and labeling entire mosques as terror groups in order to record sermons and spy on religious officials without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing . Twenty eight " ancestries of interest were monitored by the unit , ranging from Arab ethnicities like Palestinian and Syrian to heavily Muslim populations from former Soviet states such as Chechnya and Uzbekistan to Black American Muslims " . . It was noted by the ACLU that the NYPD " expressly excluded from its surveillance and mapping activities non-Muslims such as Coptic Christian Egyptians or Iranian Jews " . In 2013 , the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition ( MACLC ) , along with Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility ( CLEAR ) and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund ( AALDEF ) published a report that was critical of NYPD surveillance of their communities , and the Demographics Unit in particular . On April 15th , 2014 The New York Times reported that the NYPD officially dismantled the Zone Assessment Unit ( formerly known as the Demographics Unit ) . . However , there is concern that the data gathered through the program is still being used today . in August 2012 , the Chief of the NYPD Intelligence Division , Lt. Paul Galati admitted during sworn testimony that in the six years of his tenure , the unit tasked with monitoring American Muslim life had not yielded a single criminal lead
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
New York City Police Department Intelligence Bureau