NYPD Names Its Second Islamic Chaplain

April 3, 2007

Author: BRADLEY HOPE

Source: The New York Sun

http://www.nysun.com/article/51736

The New York Police Department has hired a 24-year-old Muslim leader to become the Islamic chaplain for the thousands of Muslims in the department, officials announced yesterday.

Khalid Latif is the second Islamic chaplain ever hired by the police.

"Because of the life-and-death nature of police work, the role of the chaplain in the police department takes on specific importance," the Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. "At the bedsides of police officers wounded in the line of duty and regrettably, all too often, at the sides of family members after a police officer has been killed in the line of duty."

During his time as an undergraduate at New York University, where he majored in Middle Eastern Studies, Mr. Latif served as a leader of NYU's Islamic Center. Since graduating, he has worked as a volunteer chaplain for NYU's 1,000 Muslims and is paid as the chaplain for Princeton University's 300 Muslims. He has a master's degree from Hartford Seminary.