NYPD spied on Paterson mosque (Archive)

This article was originally published in February 2012. 

The NYPD targeted a Paterson mosque in its surveillance of Muslims in New York and New Jersey — recording license plates and photographing worshipers — according to new, detailed reports that shed more light on the massive spying operation across state lines. 

The New York Police Department's actions have drawn sharp rebuke from some local and state officials, who said the targeting of citizens based on religion and ethnicity may have violated their civil rights. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., was the latest public official to call for an investigation into the NYPD's actions and into whether proper protocol was followed and constitutional rights were respected. 

Former Gov. Richard Codey acknowledged Thursday that he signed executive orders in 2005 that gave the NYPD legal authority to operate in New Jersey in limited circumstances, without the need to seek additional local clearance. 

Codey said the orders were meant to foster coordination. 

"The compact is to make sure that law enforcement agencies cooperate when it comes to espionage after 9/11," Codey, a Democratic state senator, said in an interview with The Star-Ledger. "But you don't do it without telling somebody when they're on your territory." 

The NYPD allegedly used "mosque crawlers" to listen in on sermons and conversations at mosques and report back what they heard. Officers also recorded license plate numbers, mounted cameras on light poles, mapped and photographed mosques, and listed their ethnic makeup, according to reports by The Associated Press and NYPD documents. The goal was to have a source inside every mosque within a 250-mile radius of New York, officials told the AP, which broke the story. 

It is unclear how far they got in that goal, but it is certain that one of their priorities was the Masjid Omar Mosque on Getty Avenue, which the NYPD identified as a target in a 2006 report. The reactions of Muslims from Paterson and Clifton who visited the mosque for afternoon prayers ranged from bewilderment to anger. 

"We are American citizens," Badr Awad of Clifton said. "No one has the right to spy on American citizens. If they don't respect us American citizens, there will be big problems." 

The brief NYPD report about the mosque -- containing two aerial photos, a map and four sentences of text -- did not indicate any criminal activity had ever taken place there or that the surveillance team was looking for anyone in particular. The report noted, though, that the mosque "is believed to have been the subject of federal investigations." 

No federal probe 

Bryan Travers, special agent and public affairs officer in the FBI Newark Division, said he could not comment about specific investigations. But federal law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that the mosque was never under federal investigation and they were unaware the NYPD was monitoring it so closely. Imam Abdul El-Nakib, who presides over the mosque, declined to comment. 

The mosque is located in a city that is home to one of the largest Muslim and Arab communities in the region, and where some of the 9/11 hijackers reportedly lived temporarily. One also bought a fake ID in the city. 

But worshipers at the mosque said they had never heard of a federal investigation or any terror-related concerns there. 

The reports about spying underlined the importance of a joint prayer service that had already been planned for today at 1 p.m. at Omar Mosque with two other Paterson mosques, said Aref Assaf, an organizer and president of the Arab American Forum. Worshipers expect to gather inside and outside the mosque in prayer to show their unity in the face of religious and ethnic profiling, Assaf said. 

"We're coming out as publicly as we can by our open prayer," he said. "We're standing united and telling them we will continue to practice our faith." 

Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones said he was surprised and "gravely concerned" that NYPD officers would conduct blanket surveillance of Muslims worshiping at Omar mosque, especially if county andPaterson police were not told about it. 

Jones, who took office in 2010, said he would ask Paterson police officials whether the NYPD had provided notification. City Councilman Andre Sayegh, who represents the neighborhood where the mosque is located, said Tuesday that Paterson law enforcement officials told him that they had no knowledge of the NYPD operation. 

"If our three law enforcement agencies weren't engaged, the notion of the wild, wild West comes to mind," said Jones, who was referring to Paterson police and the county Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Department. 

Jones said he found equally troubling the prospect of the NYPD knowing of a specific target and not notifying local authorities. 

The governor, state police and the state office for the Department of Homeland Security have also said they weren't aware of blanket surveillance by the NYPD. On Thursday, the office most responsible for counterterrorism in the United States, the FBI, said the same. 

"We have no relations with the NYPD Intelligence Unit. We don't know or wouldn't know what they are doing," Travers said. 

The executive orders signed by Codey specify the granting of police powers along railroad rights of way and ferry terminals in New Jersey. However, a high-ranking law enforcement source said Thursday that the executive orders represented a "legal agreement" that was used to open the door to the NYPD conducting its surveillance operation in the Garden State without having to clear it through local channels. 

The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly of the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Travers said the FBI worked alongside NYPD officers in the Joint Terrorism Task Force but had no relationship with the intelligence unit that has monitored and kept records on the lives of Muslims who haven't been suspected in crimes. 

"The FBI follows strict guidelines and cannot open any investigation based simply on First Amendment activity," he said. 

NYPD defends tactics 

The NYPD and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have defended the surveillance operation as an effective way to root out terrorism, and the mayor and officials have said the police force operated within the law. 

Under a court agreement reached with the NYPD in 1985, known as the Handschu rules, the police agreed to conduct investigations of political activity only if they have information that unlawful activity may take place. The rules barred police from collecting information purely based on religion or political leanings, but those rules were relaxed in 2003, according to an AP report. 

NYPD documents indicate that religion and ethnicity was behind the surveillance. The monitoring of Muslims has included mapping and surveillance at Muslim-owned restaurants and stores, in addition to schools and mosques, with no indication of wrongdoing at those places. 

Menendez called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and CIA Director Robert Petraeus to look into NYPD surveillance of Muslims and student groups on Thursday. Menendez asked for an inquiry into whether appropriate procedures and protocols were followed, and whether the CIA was involved -- as press reports have indicated. 

"I am deeply concerned by reports that the NYPD's law enforcement efforts focused on individuals who were not suspected of any criminal activity," Menendez wrote in a letter to Holder and Petraeus. 

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, said he supported calls for a federal investigation. 

"There's no reason for the NYPD to be engaging in a surveillance operation in New Jersey without first communicating with the U.S. attorney, the state police and local law enforcement agencies," Pascrell said. "We must focus on behavioral profiling rather than ethnic or religious profiling." 

CIA spokesman Preston Golson provided this response: "The CIA Inspector General, at the request of CIA leadership, has completed a review of the CIA's relationship with the NYPD and has found no violation of law or executive order on the part of CIA. The IG also found no evidence that any part of the Agency's support to the NYPD constituted 'domestic spying.' " 

Representatives for the U.S. and New Jersey attorneys general said they were reviewing requests to investigate. 

This article contains material from The Star-Ledger.

Email: adely@northjersey.com