The NYPD fired back at critics who claimed the city secretly spied on Muslim residents in Newark without alerting authorities there.
NYPD Spokesman Paul Browne argued today that Newark police officials were notified that the NYPD was monitoring activities of Muslims in Newark for potential terrorist threats in their city and one Newark cop worked as a liaison to New York City cops.
“Newark police officials were aware and were briefed before and afterwards and a Newark police liaison accompanied NYPD personnel,” Browne insisted after gathering the department’s top law experts to explain a legal agreement guiding investigations into political activity.
The NYPD said the agreement, called the Handschu, was modified after 911 to give police more leeway to monitor terrorist threats.
“The concept was how can you fight terrorism if you wait to find out that a crime has been committed,” Peter Farrell of the city’s Law Department explained. “At that point, it’s too late. The collection of information is not prohibited under the First Amendment. What’s unconstintutional is if they use the information to chill someone.””
Before the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, police had to show that criminal activity was taking place, was about to take place or had taken place. Afterwards, the agreement, which stems from a lawsuit brought in 1971, was modified to allow cops to observe activities the way the general public can observe them, legal documents state.
The strict guidelines apply only to political activity and limit record retention if no criminal activity has taken place.
The NYPD’s top legal experts also emphasized that they don’t need permission of other municipalities to simply monitor activities.
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One Response
I got an idea to make the muslim happy. Lets be politically correct and stack out all christian cemeteries to make sure there are no terrorist coming from there. Where is the root of terrorism is where you need to look and only there