(Photo by Steve Fernie)

The Metropolitan Police Department has special liaison units that cater specifically to the Asian, Latino, LGBT, and deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. One D.C. lawmaker says that it is time that the department create one for the Muslim population, too.

“[The specialized units] do a really great job,” says Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh. “It’s important when you have communities that may be targets of prejudice or hate that there be a connection to MPD because there has to be a level of trust that’s built up so that people know they can rely on MPD, and so officers in a special unit can be trained in a way so they understand the special concerns that people in these communities have.”

Cheh sent a letter to Interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham requesting the unit, citing statistics about a national rise in hate crimes directed at Muslims. D.C. Police have not yet responded to a request for comment.

“We haven’t had an enormous number of events occurring here that represent anti-Muslim behavior per se, but we have had some, and frankly I’m worried because of the ideas and views that are loose in the land,” Cheh says.

Even before the election, a Donald Trump supporter verbally attacked and threw some kind of liquid at a woman wearing a hijab in Chevy Chase. In September, a Brookings researcher wearing traditional Muslim garb was punched near the Dupont Metro.

After November 8, there appeared to be a spike in hate crimes and other racist incidents in and around D.C.

In one of the most high-profile incidents, the country’s first Somali-American lawmaker said that that a taxi driver threatened to remove her hijab. “I got in a cab and became subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, Islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats I have ever experienced,” Ilhan Omar said. In another, a police officer reportedly told a Pakistani-born driver that “I will take your head off.”

About 2 percent of the District’s population, more than 13,000 people, is Muslim.

“It used to be that hey, you’re being racist—it’s not ok,” says Tanveer Huq, who was told by a stranger on Metro to get ready to go back to his home country. “Now it’s like, hey you’re being racist, but guess what? It’s shared by so many people and it’s coming back in style.”

That incident didn’t turn violent, but it prompted Huq to think about how he would handle the situation if it had escalated. “I was trying to think of someone else who wasn’t so thick-skinned or if the situation escalated, what would I do? I still don’t have an answer for that.”

Cheh believes that having a dedicated unit for the community could help.

“To create a connection between MPD and the Muslim community, to establish this trust, to have them get to know one another so there’s an understanding there, I just think that its a good idea now to get ahead of this and maybe even prevent some hate crimes,” Cheh says.

Cheh letter to MPD by RachelSadon on Scribd