And now for something positive

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Training by Nation of Islam official canceled
NOPD to back out of contract after widespread local criticism
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
By Steve Ritea and Bruce Nolan
Staff writers

Four days after announcing that the security director for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan would provide sensitivity training to New Orleans police, the department said Tuesday that it had canceled those plans amid complaints from officers and local religious leaders.

Superintendent Eddie Compass is rescinding a $15,000 contract with Dennis Muhammad, who has provided similar training in other cities, department spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said.

I still want to know who felt -the nation of islam- were people who, ya know, were the go to guys for sensativity

Officials in those communities were unavailable to talk about the program Tuesday, but a police officer in suburban Cincinnati who recently went through it said he found it so worthwhile he wants to join as an instructor.

Sgt. DeAngelo Sumler, who heads a SWAT team in Lincoln Heights, met Muhammad on a personal trip to Chicago, heard his presentation and sold his police chief on the program.

For two days in late May, Muhammad worked with a group that included the 17-officer police force and residents of Lincoln Heights, Sumler said.

Sumler said Muhammad urged cops to leave their peace officer mentality at work and cultivate nonpolice friends. "You have to become a human being again," he said. "It's OK to go out and meet new people. Go mingle. Everybody's not bad; everybody's not a criminal."

Simultaneously, he tried to revive a sense of pride in residents of crime-plagued neighborhoods, impressing on them that they needed to cooperate with police to improve their situation.

"His approach was self-love," Sumler said. "If you love yourself and if you respect yourself, there are so many things you can do for yourself, so you don't have to be in the situation you're in."

Although Muhammad's affiliation with the Nation of Islam "might have been an issue initially, after the training got going, I don't think (other officers) thought about it at all," he said.

And had an observer sat quietly in back of the church during the communitywide session, "he would not have a clue" about Muhammad's background, Sumler said.

Praise not universal

Muhammad received a $40,000 grant from a nonprofit foundation in Syracuse for his work there.

Jeff Piedmonte, president of the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association, said he agreed with some of Muhammad's comments during training there last year, but other statements were troubling.

"There were some comments about Arabs ruining the community because they sell alcohol and cigarettes. And we had an officer there who is Arab-American and owns a store," he said.

In short, "we did not see any improvements after the program," Piedmonte said. "I think a lot of it had to do with the Nation of Islam. . . . Because of the militant position it takes, I think, a lot of officers resisted it. It was not a success, and I wouldn't recommend it for other places."

Was your community one of the stupid ones?

anyone out there other then La La Land where NOI was out teaching sensativity... you should ask your local leaders questions about this