Gov. Chris Christie tonight laid into the New York Police Department for spying on New Jersey Muslims, saying he doesn’t know if the actions were “born out of arrogance, or out of paranoia, or out of both.”
The governor also said the NYPD ignored a major lesson of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when it conducted the surveillance without telling New Jersey law enforcement agencies.
“I hope that almost 11 years past 9/11, we are not going to go back to those days because no one is omniscient,” Christie said during an appearance on New Jersey 101.5 FM’s “Ask the Governor” program. “No one knows everything in this world in law enforcement.”
Christie, who previously called the surveillance “disturbing,” took his criticism a step further tonight, spending eight minutes of the hour-long radio show discussing the matter.
“I don’t know if this NYPD action was born out of arrogance, or out of paranoia, or out of both,” he said, “but we’re taking a real good, strong hard look at it from a policy perspective at the governor’s office level.”
Christie, who was U.S. attorney when the surveillance took place, reiterated that he and his top-level staff don’t recall being briefed on the operation. Neither New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg nor Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has apologized for the department’s actions, further incensing leaders on this side of the Hudson River.
“Well, because he’s Ray Kelly, what are you going to do,” Christie said sarcastically. “He’s all knowing, all seeing.”
The Associated Press reported last month that in 2007, the NYPD began monitoring Muslim-owned businesses and houses of worship in Newark.
Acknowledging there’s a need to conduct covert operations to protect the state and region, Christie said law enforcement officers’ lives are at risk when multiple agencies watch the same people unbeknownst to each other.
“My concern, and I don’t know all the details yet, but my concern is, why can’t you be communicating with law enforcement here in New Jersey?” he asked. “Are we somehow not trustworthy?”
Christie conceded that as the top federal prosecutor in the state he didn’t always tip off municipalities on corruption busts, but it was not required.
“I had federal jurisdiction, so we could go anywhere,” he said of his U.S. attorney job. “This is the New York Police Department. I know they think their jurisdiction is the world. Their jurisdiction is New York City. My concern is this kind of obsession that the NYPD seems to have that they’re the masters of the universe.”
In cases involving terrorism, Christie said, his U.S. Attorney’s Office would inform the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement. He said he believes the NYPD should have done the same.
In addition to dismissing criticisms from Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Bloomberg and the NYPD have strongly defended their cops’ tactics, which became public in February. The snub has led New Jersey to call for an investigation into the NYPD.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told federal lawmakers this week that the Justice Department was reviewing requests to investigate the NYPD’s intelligence operations amid the scandal.
“We’re in the process of reviewing those letters to determine what action, if any, we should take,” Holder told a House appropriations subcommittee.
New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said his office is continuing to gather information on the surveillance.
“My reaction’s the same as it’s been,” he said at a news conference today in Trenton. “Any time any rights of our citizens feel threatened, we take that very seriously. But I’m not going to make any statement until I’ve had a chance to evaluate information about it.”
Chiesa declined to detail the nature of meetings between his office and NYPD officials, which reportedly began Tuesday.
A summit is planned for Saturday in Trenton to assure Muslim leaders state and federal law enforcement officers are addressing the New York police incursions into New Jersey.