''We're doing this from our hearts," said one detective from Egypt who, along with the other undercover officers, insisted on anonymity, fearing reprisals against family members in the Middle East.
The investigative unit was formed after the 2001 terrorist attacks -- part of the NYPD's strategy for homeland security that has resulted in the redeployment of about 1,000 officers to counterterrorism duty, including some posted in major cities overseas such as London.
The cybersleuths' Middle Eastern or central Asian origins also reflect an effort by the 37,000-officer department, the nation's largest, to take advantage of its linguistic diversity.
Spanish and Italian speakers abound on the force. But after Sept. 11, the NYPD identified more than 450 officers and civilian employees who speak about three dozen other languages, and groomed some for special assignments.
The NYPD maintains that using Middle Eastern officers in its cyber unit provides an early warning system for a city considered atop the terrorist hit list. And the focus on language expertise separates the NYPD from many other big-city departments.
Spokesmen at several Florida law enforcement agencies, including the Miami-Dade Police Department, said they make no special effort to develop Arabic speakers, and the Los Angeles Police Department calls language-services companies when it needs interpreters.
In southeastern Michigan, home to an Arab-American community of about 300,000, budget cuts have forced the Detroit Police Department to stop recruiting officers for the moment.
Even the FBI has grappled with a shortage of foreign language speakers, especially Arabic: The Justice Department's internal watchdog said last month that the bureau's backlog of untranslated audio recordings from terrorism and espionage investigations had ballooned to 707,742 hours at the end of March.
The NYPD has even loaned 17 officers to the Defense Intelligence Agency to help translate sensitive documents, including some recovered in Afghanistan, police officials said.
