Update to this story.

NEW YORK: The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New York chapter (CAIR-NY) has lauded the New York Police Department (NYPD) for breaking up a specialized surveillance unit in the city that had been created specifically to spy on Muslim residents.

The announcement of the NYPD disbanding the Muslim-focused surveillance team is the culmination of several efforts, made on the part of CAIR-NY, to draw attention to un-Constitutional monitoring and tracking of Muslim Americans in New York City. CAIR-NY has appealed repeatedly to the Department of Justice to investigate and put an end to the spying and undue harassment of such activity, but only now can Muslims across the Big Apple breathe a sigh of relief.

“CAIR-NY welcomes the closing of the NYPD Zone Assessment Unit,” said the organization in a statement. “This is an important first step. However, the damage of unconstitutional mass spying on people solely on the basis of their religion has already been carried out and must be addressed. We need to hear from the mayor and NYPD officials that the policy itself has been ended and that the department will no longer apply mass surveillance or other forms of biased and predatory policing to any faith-based community.”

The NYPD Zone Assessment Unit was responsible for monitoring Islamic institutions around the city, mostly mosques and other religious centers, and also kept tabs on Muslim student groups and small business either operated by or catered towards the Muslim demographic of the city.