NYPD Spying Prompts New Jersey Bill To Advance; Requires Out-Of-State Agencies To Notify State

The Huffington Post
10/18/12 04:52 PM ET EDT


TRENTON, N.J. -- The New Jersey Assembly has approved a bill requiring out-of-state law enforcement agencies to notify New Jersey officials before conducting any counterterrorism surveillance in the state.

The measure was introduced in response to revelations of spying on Muslims in New Jersey by the New York Police Department.

Sponsor Charles Mainor, an assemblyman who is also a Jersey City police officer, says New York police targeted many innocent Muslims during their surveillance.

His legislation allows prosecutors to get an injunction blocking an agency from conducting surveillance if it hasn't complied with the notification requirements.

New York police deny any wrongdoing. New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa (kee-AY'-sah) also found the NYPD broke no state laws.

The notification bill passed Thursday on a 76-3 vote. It is yet to be considered by the Senate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10 ... -new-jesey_n_1982275.html

NYPD Muslim Surveillance Is Legal, New Jersey Finds

By SAMANTHA HENRY 05/24/12
AP - The Huffington Post

TRENTON, N.J. ? New York City police did not violate New Jersey laws when they conducted surveillance of Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups, Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Thursday following a three-month review, a finding that angered Muslim leaders who had sought a clampdown on the cross-border police operations.

The conclusion by Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa, a Christie appointee asked by the governor to look into the spying, means New Jersey Muslims have no state recourse to stop the New York Police Department from infiltrating student groups, videotaping mosque-goers or collecting their license plate numbers as they pray.

Such operations were part of a widespread NYPD program to collect intelligence on Muslim communities both inside New York and beyond. Undercover officers and informants eavesdropped in Muslim cafes and monitored sermons, even when there was no evidence of a crime. The result was that many innocent business owners, students and others were cataloged in police files.

The interstate surveillance efforts, revealed by The Associated Press earlier this year, angered many Muslims and New Jersey officials. Some, like Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the state's top FBI official, criticized the tactics. Others, like Christie, focused more on the fact that the NYPD didn't tell New Jersey exactly what it was up to.

In response, Chiesa launched what he described as a fact-finding review. That review concluded that the NYPD's operations violated no state laws, either civil or criminal.

Further, authorities found that New Jersey has no laws barring outside law enforcement agencies from secretly conducting operations in the state, representatives of the attorney general's office told the AP. However, New York police have agreed to meet with New Jersey law enforcement regularly to discuss counterterrorism intelligence and operations, the attorney general said.

Chiesa, the governor's former chief counsel and a longtime confidante, outlined the state's findings in closed-door meetings Thursday afternoon with Muslim leaders.

"We remain committed to striking the appropriate balance of ensuring the safety of our citizens through vigilance in fighting terrorism, while not undermining the public's confidence in how we approach that mission," Chiesa said in a written statement.

Muslim leaders said they were told that every instance of NYPD activity in New Jersey had been justified by a lead, but that the attorney general would not provide any details on the nature of any of those leads, saying the fact-finding was ongoing.

They said that they did not find the assertion credible and that their efforts to maintain communication between the community and law enforcement would be hurt by the findings that the NYPD had done nothing wrong ? and could keep doing what they have been doing.

"It was basically an, `FYI, good Thursday afternoon, let it die in the media before the Memorial Day weekend,'" said Mohamed El-Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, across the Hudson River from New York. If the surveillance of every mosque, burger joint and barbershop targeted was justified, he asked, why were no arrests made?

Aref Assaf of the American Arab Forum said the attorney general made them feel like second-class citizens.

"I said to him it's not only insulting, it's offensive to our sense of justice, that you bring us to Trenton to tell us that you accept as legal and valid the actions of the NYPD, and I will not be surprised if you're issuing an order informing your law enforcement officials that they too can spy on American Muslisms because if it's legal for NYPD, than it must be legal for NJ to do the same."

The Muslim leaders said they would consider all legal options, including renewed appeals for action by the U.S. Justice Department. A federal civil rights lawsuit has also been considered.

The governor was not at the meetings. He was on a visit at the same time to Atlantic City. Asked about the findings, he said: "I have every confidence in Attorney General Chiesa. If that's what he determined, it's good enough for me."

The NYPD has long maintained that its operations were lawful and necessary to keep the city safe. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the NYPD can gather intelligence anywhere in the country it wants and is not required to tell local authorities. NYPD lawyers say they are not bound by jurisdictional lines because they are just collecting intelligence, not making arrests or otherwise acting as police.

Told of New Jersey's findings, Bloomberg's spokesman, Marc La Vorgna, said in a statement: "We've said it time and again, NYPD has kept the city safe and they conduct their work legally."

The attorney general said a directive he issued requires all New Jersey law enforcement agencies to notify the New Jersey State Police Counter-Terrorism Bureau and the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness if they hear of outside departments working in New Jersey. The state agencies will then coordinate with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, of which the NYPD is a member.

Chiesa said he is also establishing a Muslim outreach committee.

Christie, who was the U.S. attorney for the state at the time of the New Jersey surveillance, has said he didn't recall ever being briefed on the NYPD operations. He was one of several state and federal officials who had earlier criticized the NYPD's conduct in New Jersey, accusing the agency of acting like "masters of the universe" by sending agents into his state.

New Jersey's FBI chief, Michael Ward, also has been critical of the NYPD for not conducting the operations within the umbrella off the Joint Terrorism Task Force, to which the NYPD belongs. He said the actions undermined the bureau's own efforts by sowing distrust of authorities among Muslims and weakened national security.

___

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo in Washington and Wayne Parry in Atlantic City contributed to this report.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05 ... 1542338.html?ref=new-york

NJ interfaith leaders speak out on NYPD tactics

Associated Press - March 8, 2012, 4:35 p.m. ET

JERSEY CITY, N.J. ? New Jersey Muslim leaders joined with other religious officials Thursday in demanding reassurance from authorities that no one is being spied on because of their faith, as calls for an investigation into NYPD surveillance activities in New Jersey continued to grow, and the U.S. attorney general said he was reviewing the matter.

At an event in Jersey City featuring mosque, synagogue and church leaders, several said they were in solidarity with Muslims who felt that reports of the New York Police Department conducting surveillance of mosques and Muslim student groups in New Jersey and elsewhere had crossed the line beyond acceptable counter-terrorism methods.

"We as people of faith need to speak out to the police, and to any other organizations which we trust to take care of our security, to make sure that they understand that we do not feel more secure when they are singling out Muslims, or any group of any faith, as a so-called measure of our security," said Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet in Montclair. "We ask them to keep us all secure, regardless of faith, and to investigate people who are doing bad things, not people because they are of one religion or another."

Archbishop of Newark Rev. John J. Myers said in a statement that although authorities were tasked with keeping the public safe, they needed to do so within the confines of the law and without infringing on people's religious freedoms.

Meanwhile in Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said during questioning at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that he was disturbed by what he'd read about the New York Police Department conducting surveillance of mosques and Islamic student organizations in New Jersey. Holder said he was reviewing the matter, including letters from New Jersey officials complaining that they were kept in the dark about the surveillance.

The New York police monitored Muslims in New Jersey at businesses and their mosques in a surveillance operation that was disclosed recently by The Associated Press in a series of news stories.

New Jersey's top FBI official said Wednesday some of the NYPD's activities in New Jersey had undermined trust and hard-fought relationships between Muslims and law enforcement in the state. Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Division, Michael Ward, said the NYPD had been a valuable member of a Joint Terrorism Task Force but that it was problematic that he didn't know the extent of NYPD operations conducted by its intelligence unit outside the confines of the task force.

Ward had initially been invited to speak at a Paterson mosque Thursday, but mosque leaders postponed the meeting.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as NYPD officials, have defended their activities in New Jersey as legal and warranted.

Bloomberg said Thursday at a mayors' conference in Chicago that the NYPD had a "daunting task" and had to be perfect every day to prevent terrorism.

He called the NYPD the best police department in the world and said 14 attacks had been stopped since 9/11, without anybody dying.

Mohamed El Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County who organized the interfaith press conference Thursday at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, said he appreciated the head of the FBI and other law enforcement officers saying they wanted to maintain good relationships with Muslims in the wake of the NYPD revelations, but that words could only go so far.

"Open forums are good, but an investigation is a lot better," El Filali said. "Hopefully the attorney general is collecting the information quick enough so a formal investigation will quench our desire for definite answers."
___

Associated Press writers Pete Yost in Washington and Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report

Quote:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
- Martin Niem?ller, a prominent Protestant pastor who opposed the Nazi regime. He spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Germany, 1937.

Quote: +1

Quote:
+1

FDR

Quote:
Yes.

From a NYTimes editorial:

It is a distressing fact of life that mistreatment of Muslims does not draw nearly the protest that it should. But not just Muslims are threatened by this seemingly excessive warrantless surveillance and record-keeping. Today Muslims are the target. In the past it was protesters against the Vietnam War, civil rights activists, socialists. Tomorrow it will be another vulnerable group whose lawful behavior is blended into criminal activity.

This country would be much safer if we follow Dr. Ron Paul's foreign policy.

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they obviously hate us for our freedomz.. lulz

It amazes me how little we have learned. How little we care about what America stands for. We keep forgetting that we have done this to so many communities(jews, italians, germans, blacks, japanese, gays, communists, catholics) with very little gained. Many of these communities or at least their descendents have forgot what their people had to go through. Why do the same unjust things to another group? For those that advocate the violation of an entire people or community or every day innocent Americans and residents....you need to look closely at who you really are and examine what you stand for. Today it might not be you or your loved ones...but one day that very "government" might turn on you, then you will turn to others around you...and find yourself alone.

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fat-ass-bike wrote:
Surveillance of suspected terrorists 10/10
Surveillance based on religion or profiling an entire community is wrong, dangerous, most likely illegal, discriminatory, racial and in my humble opinion unconstitutional - If this did occur, I hope that religious community takes legal action (sue their sorry ass) against NY State, the NYPD and the Country for allowing this to happen.

Heights Wrote:
Not Gonna Happen: A/B
(A) They're not going to sue the government
(B) If they do they will loose.
I'm just wondering if a member of said "religion" can take it upon themselves and sue on their behalf ??

I'm also wondering ECH do you butter their bread or do they butter your's ? And I bet there's a lot of hand washing after that meal too.

I hope so.

Quote:
Not Gonna Happen: A/B
(A) They're not going to sue the government
(B) If they do they will loose.
I'm just wondering if a member of said "religion" can take it upon themselves and sue on their behalf ??

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I'm sorry but if any of these folks have a switch in their brain that is that easy to flip then they should be investigated.

The ultimate irony would be if these tactics wind up radicalizing people who would otherwise stay peaceful in a sane world. Then when the next attack came, all of you morons would once again cry, "why do they hate us?".

Quote:

hu?mor   [hyoo-mer or, often, yoo-] Show IPA
noun
1.
a comic, absurd, or incongruous quality causing amusement: the humor of a situation.
2.
the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical: He is completely without humor.
3.
an instance of being or attempting to be comical or amusing; something humorous: The humor in his joke eluded the audience.
4.
the faculty of expressing the amusing or comical: The author's humor came across better in the book than in the movie.
5.
comical writing or talk in general; comical books, skits, plays, etc.

I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion ? be you Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim, I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior....

Surveillance of suspected terrorists 10/10
Surveillance based on religion or profiling an entire community is wrong, dangerous, most likely illegal, discriminatory, racial and in my humble opinion unconstitutional - If this did occur, I hope that religious community takes legal action (sue their sorry ass) against NY State, the NYPD and the Country for allowing this to happen.

I?m another person that doesn?t have a problem with police investigations of Muslims in Jersey City. The history of Muslim terrorism in the United States was largely written here in Jersey City by Muslim extremists. I can?t imagine any law enforcement body being willing to overlook this fact for the sake of sparing the feelings of one group or another. Take a quick look at these two Wikipedia pages, one for Ramzi Yousef and the other for Omar Abde-Rhman. Both of them were active here in Jersey City, a block or two from where I live. Here is a chilling quote: ?Abdel-Rahman was deeply anti-American and spoke out against it, safe in the knowledge that he was speaking Arabic and unmonitored by any law enforcement agency. He issued a fatwa in America that declared lawful the robbing of banks and killing of Jews in America. His sermons condemned Americans as the "descendants of apes and pigs who have been feeding from the dining tables of the Zionists, Communists, and colonialists". He called on Muslims to assail the West, "cut the transportation of their countries, tear it apart, destroy their economy, burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air, or land"

.
And here are the two links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Yousef

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Abdel-Rahman

I would like to think that any law enforcement organization would be extra diligent in following up on the community which harbored criminal zealots like these two murderers.

i shood

Quote:

hu?mor   [hyoo-mer or, often, yoo-] Show IPA
noun
1.
a comic, absurd, or incongruous quality causing amusement: the humor of a situation.
2.
the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical: He is completely without humor.
3.
an instance of being or attempting to be comical or amusing; something humorous: The humor in his joke eluded the audience.
4.
the faculty of expressing the amusing or comical: The author's humor came across better in the book than in the movie.
5.
comical writing or talk in general; comical books, skits, plays, etc.

We can rest assured that the JCPD didn't .... nor would they know how too !

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FTFY

This is the world we live in if Surveillance is keeping the U.S.A. safe " Keep Up The Good Work"

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Do you have any confidence in the J.C.P.D. in assisting the N.Y.P.D. and is Jersey City even involved ?

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You should right for a living.

first of all I hope there was a muslim inestigation in My jersey city.Remember the first terror bombing in 1991 was piloted out of journal square.With a muslim population as big as JC.s we need to be as cautious as possible in dealing with this potential threat,for the saftey of all our citizens.If there was an investigation,no one ever noticed.NYPD works silently,they are the most shrewed investigators around.I welcome the nypd to my J.C.as well as all law inforcement,they might be the ones who save your life

I sure hope so but only time will tell.