FBI Head Michael Ward Speaks Out on NYPD Operations in NJ

The head of the FBI in New Jersey said Wednesday that some of the covert operations by the New York Police Department's intelligence division have damaged the public's trust in New Jersey law enforcement, though he emphasized that his agency has an overall good working relationship with the NYPD.

The Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Newark Division, Michael Ward, said two NYPD investigators had been assigned to the New Jersey-based Joint Terrorism Task Force for years and operated under clear guidelines and engaged in regular interagency briefings.

Ward told reporters that he was aware that officers from the NYPD's intelligence division were also working in the state, adding that it was a fact known to most New Jersey law enforcement officials who work on counterterrorism issues. But Ward emphasized that although he met with NYPD intelligence officials on a bimonthly basis, he wasn't briefed on the extent of the NYPD's operations outside the task force.

"The key point is we don't have awareness of everything that NYPD intelligence does in New Jersey. We have meetings with them, we get together with them almost twice a month in which we share information, but we don't have insight into what they are doing. They bring information forward that they think is worthy of sharing and we're kind of at the mercy of what they decide to tell us and when they decide to tell us."

Ward said he learned about some of their activities through a series of reports by The Associated Press detailing the police department's secret surveillance of mosques, Muslim-owned businesses and college campuses across the Northeast. He said it was those types of activities that risk undermining a key aspect of law enforcement: the ability to enlist the trust and cooperation of the public.

"What we're seeing now with the uproar that's occurring in New Jersey, is that we're starting to see cooperation pulled back," Ward said. "People are concerned that they're being followed, they're concerned that they can't trust law enforcement and it's having a negative impact. When people pull back cooperation it creates additional risks, it creates blind spots, it hinders our ability to have our finger on the pulse of what's going on around the state, and thus, it causes problems and makes the job of the Joint Terrorism Task Force much, much harder."

Muslim leaders in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and elsewhere have requested investigations into the NYPD's activities.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

NYPD: RELATIONS WITH MUSLIMS IN REGION ARE STRONG

A New York Police Department spokesman says police ties with the Muslim community remain strong. in response to a New Jersey FBI official's criticism that police monitoring of Muslims has damaged the public trust.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says that ongoing relationships with Muslims in the region have led to the arrest of several suspected terrorists in New Jersey and elsewhere. He says Ward recently praised two NYPD officers for their help in a New Jersey terror case.

Michael Ward, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Newark Division, says Muslims have become less cooperative and distrusting since learning that police monitored Muslims at businesses and their mosques. The surveillance was detailed in a series of stories by The Associated Press.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)