NEW YORK, NY September 04, 2009 — This week marks the mid-point for Ramadan, the holiest month in the Muslim calendar. Estimates of the number of Muslims who call New York City home run as high as 800,000. For a decade, the NYPD has made an effort to help Muslims feel more plugged into civic society. To that end, the Police Department holds an annual Ramadan program to educate its members and broaden its outreach. As WNYC’s Bob Hennelly reports, this year’s event provided a chance to showcase the NYPD’s diversity while giving the increasingly vocal Muslim community a chance to voice their concerns. Reporter: There was not an empty seat to be had at the NYPD's auditorium at One Police Plaza. The audience made up NYPD brass, regular cops, Muslim clerics and community members all stood and listened to the cadences of the NYPD's Imam's call to prayer. Imam: " And whether you show what is in your minds or conceal it God calls you to account for it." Reporter:. After Sept 11th the NYPD saw an opportunity. As a force long dominated by Irish Catholics headed by a guy named Kelly it committed to increase its outreach to Muslim New Yorkers. Kelly:"Good morning. Welcome to police headquarters and thanking you for all being here. Quite an impressive turnout.” That outreach also meant diversifying its own ranks. In the Fall of 2001 hundreds of officers in the Department who spoke Arabic and other foreign languages saw their prospects for advancement improve.. These days half of the incoming recruits are people of color and hale from 57 countries. On the street the Department is also engaging Muslim teens.. Kelly: We are pleased to be joined again this year by members of the NYPD's Twenty20 cricket league and the NYPD United Soccer program? Reporter: This annual event as become a kind of town hall meeting where Muslim New Yorkers can directly engage Commissioner Kelly and the department’s top leadership. Also In the audience were hundreds of uniformed and civilian NYPD employees who are themselves Muslim. One questioner pushed for a Muslim public school holiday. Audience member: During the month of Ramadan it is a month of giving, love and compassion. And one of the best gifts the mayor can give the Muslims in new York City this year is to pass the bill that the City Council and its members overwhelmingly signed off on, on giving the kids off for the Eid celebration. We thank you very much. Reporter: Yet despite the outreach there have been controversies. Just months after a controversial joint federal and NYPD sting operation that led to the arrest of four men from Newburgh, New York, some audience members questioned the use of informants. Man in the crowd: So I am wondering if enough care is given to make sure that these people who go out to sort of work with these potentially unstable individuals are not actively instigating those plans. Reporter: But many of the issues that come up are similar to ones that might be posed by clerics from any faith preparing for a high traffic holiday. It is basics--- garbage collection ---- how to manage traffic around the city's 170 mosques. One questioner was hoping to enlist Commissioner Kelly help to get the local precinct cops to lay off the ticket writing for cars doubled parked outside his mosque. Mosque member: My problem is the double parking at our center. We have been getting tickets for our members that are praying upstairs at the center Your honor I implore you to see if the traffic department can do something about this. Scene change: State Street in Brooklyn outside of the Dawood Mosque Reporter: Here in Brooklyn, two blocks over from Borough Hall, only a blue police barricade on the sidewalk sets aside the Dawood Mosque apart from the residential streetscape. Dozens of shoes belonging to congregants at prayer are neatly packed in a wall unit at the door. Detective Ahmed Nasser, who heads the NYPD Community Affairs Muslim Liasion effort, has come to check in with the mosque’s imam. It is Nasser's role to encourage communication between the neighborhoods’ religious community and the local precinct Nasser says for Muslim families, close proximity to their mosque is important. Detective Ahmed Nasser: You will walk to the mosque. As they walk from their house, they bring the whole family here. You come here in the night time. You do your prayers and be able to walk back home. At times people will pray outside if the weather permits and they will take part of the sidewalk. Reporter: Nasser came from Yemen when he was 20. He learned English, went to college for accounting and in 2000 fulfilled a lifelong dream. He became a member of the NYPD. In Nasser’s job he spends time helping Muslim religious and community leaders understand the NYPD and getting the NYPD to get beyond stereotypes. Nasser: "Any where you go jn the world you will find Muslims, people from China, people from Indonesia and you have people here in the United States. You can't really say Muslims should look like this. Reporter: Just a year after Nasser joined the NYPD came September 11th. Nasser: It was the saddest day of my life. There was a lot of verbal incidents occurred. My wife was taking my kids from school and she was called "You f...in terrorist go back to where you came from." My wife was born in Brooklyn But this is where I am. it was really hard." Reporter: But he says something enduring came out of that crucible. Nasser: My colleagues came to me and said "Do you have problems? Is everything ok with you? Do you need any help?" And I was touched by that. And I said, you know what, I have brothers. Reporter: From upstairs in the mosque, there is the sound of rushing uncontrolled water from failing plumbing. Nasser checks it out and just happens to have the card of a reliable plumber that he hands to the imam's son who runs it upstairs to his father. Nasser: Just happened to stop by and there was something happening here and I got involved somehow. Reporter: Getting involved indeed. Being a Muslim who speaks Arabic fluently helps Nasser. As he advises on the plumbing emergency, he takes a cell call from a Manhattan mosque trying to cope with panhandlers. Nasser: Listen I am a Muslim. I practice. I do fast. It is a matter of understanding and I think that is how you have to live your life. You can't wait for them to find out that your a Muslim. No, you go out and tell them who you are. Nasser wears two hats. He recently started the NYPD Muslim Officer’s Association. At this year’s NYPD Ramadan seminar when Commissioner Kelly asked Nasser and a contingent of the Muslim Officers Association to stand, they got quite a round of applause. It marked a major milestone years in the making. Reporter: For Detective Vern Kendrick the formation of the Muslim Officers Association was a longtime overdue. After this year's Ramadan event, he sought out Nasser and embraced him. He says a lot has changed for him from when he first came on the force back in 1993. Detective Kendrick: It is unbelievable. I am grateful to this brother right here cause they got it all together. These are all of our brothers and it is nice to have that camaraderie. This year Ramadan ends on September 19th. Than comes the three-day feast of Eidl Fitr that marks the completion of the month of fasting and prayer. For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly