By Hannan Adely and Juliet Fletcher, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) –
TRENTON, N.J. — Two days before a planned summit with top state and federal law enforcement officials and Muslim leaders, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unleashed some of his harshest words yet for the New York Police Department.
Christie slammed the NYPD for conducting secret surveillance in Muslim communities in New Jersey without notifying state agencies, saying the lack of information and coordination could endanger law enforcement officers and was an “abandonment of the core lesson of 9/11.”
“How do they know the Attorney General’s Office hasn’t been surveilling those people for two years? This is when you have law enforcement officers hurt or killed, because they’re surveilling the same people and then they don’t know those guys are law enforcement and vice versa. And people wind up shooting each other,” Christie said at a news conference in Trenton on Thursday.
The governor would not comment on allegations that the NYPD violated the civil rights of Americans when they spied on and collected information about where Muslims pray, live and own businesses. Christie said that determination should be left to law enforcement agencies investigating the NYPD operations.
“If there were any violations of law by the NYPD, I am sure that the attorney general will take whatever steps he deems appropriate,” he said.
U.S. and New Jersey attorneys general said they were reviewing requests to look into NYPD surveillance, but neither has made a decision on whether to investigate — to the disappointment of Muslim leaders who plan to attend a summit Saturday at the Robert J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. Leaders of mosques and Muslim organizations said they will seek commitments from state and federal law enforcement officials to investigate and answers about the extent of NYPD surveillance operations in New Jersey.
“I’m very disappointed that after all the information they have now — and after the opposition and condemnation by public officials and leaders in our community — they are still not committing to an investigation,” said Aref Assaf, president of the Arab American Forum in Paterson.
State police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said they were unaware of surveillance until it was reported in the media. Representatives from all three agencies are expected to attend the summit. State homeland security officials declined to say whether the NYPD has been invited.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, who plans to attend, said in a statement that his office will continue dialogue with New Jersey’s Arab-American and Muslim communities.
“We remain committed to protecting the safety of the people of New Jersey through aggressive counterterrorism investigations without sacrificing the civil rights and liberties of our citizens,” Fishman said.
Reports show that the NYPD collected information on mosques, businesses and worshipers in Newark, and targeted the mosque Masjid Omar in Paterson. The NYPD also monitored Muslim student groups at 16 Northeast colleges, including Rutgers University, according to The Associated Press, which broke the story, and police documents.
The NYPD and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have defended its operations as an effective and legal way to prevent terrorism.
Bloomberg pointed out in a recent radio interview that some Sept. 11 hijackers had done training and lived for a period of time in New Jersey. He also said the NYPD acted legally and constitutionally in its surveillance operations.
The tension between the two states has amounted to a war of words over the past week. Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said New Jersey officials, including Christie, were wrong to challenge their actions.
Christie fired back Thursday, saying the failure of 9/11 was a refusal of law enforcement agencies to communicate. “They were being selfish, they were being provincial, they were being paranoid and they were being arrogant. And I do not want to return to those days.”
Christie also said he believed law enforcement in New Jersey could be trusted if they were given confidential information about terrorism.
New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said at the news conference his office was continuing to gather information before making a decision whether to investigate.
