New Bill Against Out Of State Spying
By P.T.
Published: October 19, 2012
A new bill has made its way through the state’s General Assembly that forbids law enforcement agencies of other states to spy on New Jersey residents without informing the requisite authorities.
The bill sponsored by Charles Mainor, an assembly man representing NJ’s 31st legislative district, and Annette Quijano, first minority and first female representing NJ’s 20th legislative district, comes after the Associated Press blew the lid off a secret spying program operated inside New Jersey by New York City Police Department.
Agents of NYPD infiltrated mosques in Paterson; gathered intelligence on Muslim students attending Rutgers University; and monitored a large number of Muslim owned businesses inside New York and in the Garden State.
Omar Mosque, located in Getty Avenue, was kept under close watch; and those who attended the house of worship had their license plate numbers recorded and processed for wrong doing. Similar incidents took place throughout the North East, wherever there was a decent size Muslim population.
The bill reads: “No law enforcement agency, or investigative or law enforcement officer, of another state shall conduct a surveillance operation within the borders of this State unless that law enforcement agency, or investigative or law enforcement officer, has provided prior notice of the surveillance operation to the Attorney General, the superintendent of State Police, and the chief law enforcement officer of the jurisdiction in which the operation is to take place.”
The new legislation has to pass through the State Senate before becoming law.