New York – Kelly: Not Sorry About NJ Muslim Surveillance; NY Gov Says No Reason To Second-Guess NYPD’s Methods

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    1 New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sits in his SUV. EPA FileNew York – The New York Police Department’s commissioner said Monday he wouldn’t apologize for an intelligence program that has been keeping tabs on Muslims as part of the department’s counterterrorism efforts, even if some people don’t like it.

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    “Not everybody is going to be happy with everything the police department does, that’s the nature of our business,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. “But our primary mission, our primary goal is to keep this city safe, to save lives. That’s what we’re engaged in doing.”

    Some local politicians and potential candidates to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg who have criticized the department’s efforts were pandering because of the upcoming election season, Kelly said Monday on a local radio show on WOR. Others, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Newark Mayor Cory Booker were wrong to question the department, he said. The elected officials were responding to the recent disclosure that officers devoted several months in 2007 to surveillance of Muslim communities in New Jersey’s largest city. The result was a 60-page guide to Newark’s Muslims, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

    Kelly said it was a knee-jerk response and he had no plans to apologize. Bloomberg already has come out with strong support for the police department’s efforts.

    And on Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said: “I don’t believe there’s any reason to second-guess the NYPD’s methods.”

    Cuomo was responding in Albany to a letter sent by a civil rights group demanding a meeting to discuss the attorney general’s decision not to investigate the NYPD.

    “I don’t believe there is any reason to second-guess the attorney general,” Cuomo said.

    Kelly’s comments, which first appeared in a New York Daily News column in Monday’s editions, came in the wake of the anniversary of the first attack on the World Trade Center, on Feb. 26, 1993. Then, the bombers came from New Jersey in a van full of explosives, parked it in a garage and detonated it. Kelly said it would be wrong to focus only on the city’s five boroughs.

    “It should’ve been a major wakeup call for the country and the city. It wasn’t,” Kelly told the AP. “It was sort of written off as a being an inept group of individuals, it wasn’t seen to be tied to an international movement. We paid the price.”

    He said he’s doing everything he can — under the law — to make certain nothing like the 1993 bombing or the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks happens again.

    “The mayor is committed, I’m certainly committed to doing what we have to do, certainly as long as we’re doing it pursuant to the law,” he said. “We’re going to continue to vet and examine all of these strategies tactics that we use to keep this city safe.”


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    4 Comments
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    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    12 years ago

    There is nothing to apologize for. Another job well done by the NYPD.

    12 years ago

    Only in America are we sorry for protecting ourselves from enemies.

    grandson1
    grandson1
    12 years ago

    Thank you commissioner Kelly. You have nothing to apologize for trying to protect the citizens of New York City. The ones who need to apologize are the panderers like Christie, Booker or Menendez who haven’t done their job rooting out terrorists from their state.

    bigwheeel
    bigwheeel
    12 years ago

    When there is a terrorist act with victims in terms of lives lost and injured people, who are we going to call for help, the ACLU?! or one of the other subversive groups. The NYPD, under the guidance of Commissioner Ray Kelly is doing a superb job, notwithstanding all the politically correct statements by the politicians. It’s refreshing to hear that our local elected officials, both in City and State government are using their common sense and are standing behind the Commissioner and the Department.