This op-ed by Saher Selod, professor of Sociology at Simmons University, details how a network of 80 surveillance-oriented “Fusion Centers” run by the Department of Homeland Security are eroding privacy and civil rights, primarily of minority communities like Arab Americans. Dovetailing on insights by a major report on fusion centers by the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at the Rutgers University Law School, Selod articulates how these fusion centers will disproportionately lead to excessive policing of minority communities, further eroding their civil rights. In particular, Selod emphasizes how these fusion centers promote broken windows policing, by surveilling and policing low-level offenses, disproportionately targeting minorities, all under the guise of fighting terrorism.
Read the full op-ed here.
