Did you hear the news? It turns out that plenty of officials in New Jersey's law enforcement and government knew about the NYPD's sweeping surveillance of Muslim communities in the state. City Hall's press flacks are all a'twitterin about this Star-Ledger story with members of the New York media (and the headline: "THEY ALL KNEW." Woof!) Phew, guess we don't have to worry about the NYPD's methods or racial/religious profiling, since some politicians knew about it. And what did they know? Peter Harvey, the state's AG from 2003-2006 explains: "Truth be told we can’t stop [the NYPD], and I’m not sure I want to stop them."
These officials "knew to varying degrees" what was going on in their state. For instance, Harvey says he knew the NYPD "had sent officers to do actual, physical surveillance in New Jersey," while state senator Richard Codey, who was governor for 14 months, signed two executive orders giving the NYPD permission and authority to act, but said he didn't know about—and strongly disapproved of—the department's activities in Newark.
Yet if there's a common theme in the story it's that the NYPD was going to do what it wanted to, because of the looming threat of terrorism. Hudson County prosecutor Edward DiFazio attended briefings the NYPD held, and noted that even if the department didn't tell New Jersey's authorities exactly what it was doing, he could make the inference.
"I’m not naive," DeFazio said. "I wouldn’t in any way be surprised if surveillance has gone on and is going on. They did not keep it a secret. The attitude you see being expressed by the mayor and police commissioner is the attitude that has been expressed since 9/11."
The story also notes the "friction" between the NYPD and the Feds, with one describing the NYPD's intelligence bureau as "an island unto its own. They didn’t respect territorial boundaries and they didn’t respect jurisdiction."
In fact, the piece ends with a quote from former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, who was chairman of the 9/11 Commission, commending Commissioner Kelly for his work but advises him to chasten his approach. "Nobody should be being a lone ranger here, no matter how good they are, because that’s not the way to win the war."
New Jersey officials met with Muslim organizations last week to discuss the surveillance, and today Commissioner Kelly is slated to meet with Muslim organizations in New York. The Department of Justice is investigating whether the NYPD's practices violated the law. C'moooon, the terrorists aren't limited by any of these so-called "laws," so why should the NYPD be?
