Oral History Interview with Ahmed Nasser, September 18, 2018

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Ahmed Nasser speaks extensively about his career as a Muslim detective in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which he joined in 2000. He elaborates on his work to build relationships between law enforcement and Muslim immigrant communities across the city, especially following the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in 2001. In addition, he talks about educating his fellow police officers about Islam and his efforts to secure accommodations surrounding religious customs and practices for Muslims serving in the NYPD. He also touches on his family, immigration to the United States, and attachment to Brooklyn. Interview conducted by Liz H. Strong.

Biographical / Historical

Ahmed Nasser was born in 1966 in the village of Almayanah in Yemen. He immigrated to the United States in 1986 and settled in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. He worked in family-owned restaurants and earned undergraduate degrees with New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn and Baruch College in Manhattan before joining the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2000. As a detective and member of the Community Affairs Bureau, he worked to improve communication between Muslim immigrant communities and the NYPD in the years following the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in 2001. He also cofounded the American Muslim Law Enforcement Officers Association in 2001 and the NYPD Muslim Officers Society in 2004.

Conditions Governing Access

This interview can be accessed onsite at the Center for Brooklyn History's Othmer Library and online at the Oral History Portal.

Subjects

Topics

Arabs -- New York (State) -- Kings County; Detectives -- New York (State) -- Kings County; Immigrants -- New York (State) -- Kings County; Islam -- Customs and practices; Police-community relations -- New York (State) -- Kings County; Religion in the workplace -- New York (State) -- New York; September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001; Yemenis -- New York (State) -- Kings County

Places

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.); Red Hook (New York, N.Y.)