|
New Jersey Star-Ledger – October 7, 2005
Report backs charges that New Jersey Muslims
were profiled
BY RICK HEPP
A confidential federal review has concluded that the state's counterterrorism agents filed 140 intelligence reports into a crime-fighting database with no grounds for suspicion other than the suspects' Muslim faith.
The report, issued this week, backs State Police contentions that the computer entries made by New Jersey's Office of Counter-Terrorism amounted to improper profiling of suspects. Because of this concern, State Police had barred counterterrorism agents from making entries into the database and on Monday removed 14 troopers who had been assigned to that office.
"The submissions, as presented, neither described any specific terrorist or other criminal activity nor contained the necessary factual information on which a determination of reasonable suspicion could have been determined," according to the U.S. Department of Justice-approved report, a copy of which was obtained by The Star-Ledger. The report added that the State Police apparently "acted responsibly in removing the 140 submissions" from their database.
The findings will be used by Attorney General Peter Harvey in a report he is expected to issue by Oct. 17 on standards for identifying potential terrorists. Harvey and State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes believe the federal review affirms their decision to distance the State Police from Counter-Terrorism, according to top law enforcement officials.
The State Police move to reassign the troopers drew an angry response from acting Gov. Richard Codey, who said he was tired of a "turf battle" being waged between the state's top terror-fighting units. Codey on Tuesday issued an executive order removing Harvey's authority over the day-to-day operations of the Office of Counter-Terrorism.
Nearing the end of a series of federally mandated reforms to rid the State Police of racial profiling practices, the attorney general and State Police feared the computer entries could make it appear they condoned profiling. …..
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-3/112866313196640.xml&coll=1
Newsday – Oct. 7, 2005
Muslims feel vindicated by report finding profiling
by New Jersey anti-terror cops
By WAYNE PARRY
NEWARK, N.J. -- Muslims say a federal report supporting charges that New Jersey counterterrorism officials were compiling reports on Muslims solely because of their religion confirms what they have been claiming for years.
"This shouldn't surprise anyone," said Yaser El-Menshawy, chairman of the Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, the state's council of mosques. "Although it's wrong and it's bad law enforcement, Muslims understand that we have fewer rights than anyone else right now. I'm sure people in law enforcement realize that and know they can get away with things with Muslims that they can't with any other group."
The Institute for Intergovernmental Research, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, reviewed a dispute in New Jersey over state counterterrorism investigators entering 140 reports into a law-enforcement database.
Fearing they would be accused of racial profiling after being ordered by the federal government to halt the practice of targeting motorists based on race, New Jersey state police prohibited the state's Office of Counter-Terrorism from entering any more of their intelligence reports into the database.
On Monday, state police yanked 14 troopers from the counterterror office, prompting acting Gov. Codey to intervene in what he called a turf war between state agencies, undoing some of the moves and stripping the state Attorney General's Office of much power over the anti-terror agency.
The report, obtained by The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Bergen County, found no specific terrorist or criminal activity that would justify including the individuals and organizations in the anti-terror database. It added that state police "acted responsibly in removing the 140 submissions" from the database.
Auditors from the Florida-based Institute for Intergovernmental Research, which has several contracts to do similar review work for the Justice Department, met with representatives of New Jersey state police and the attorney general's office, who described the reports to them. The auditors did not view the actual reports because they do not have security clearance.
The counterterrorism office has denied that the reports constituted profiling, claiming the documents were incomplete and that state police misunderstood how they were being compiled. Spokesmen for the state police, attorney general's office and counterterrorism office declined to comment on the report Friday….
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--muslims-profiling1007oct07,0,2242180.story
|
