Our memories are too short

The New York City Police Department is embroiled in one of its most heated debates, about the surveillance of Muslim and Arab communities throughout New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area, including New Jersey.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been fending off attacks from the politically left New York Times, which has questioned the NYPD’s tactics in dealing with possible terrorist activity.

The Times has published several scathing articles, accusing Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Kelly of “operating in secrecy and under murky rules, to abuse their powers.” According to The Times, the NYPD has violated the constitutional rights of thousands of law-abiding Muslim-Americans in the New York area.

Reports have emerged that the department was actively investigating mosques, campus groups, luncheonettes, dollar stores and other businesses either owned or frequented by Muslims. The NYPD is also accused of monitoring the Web sites and blocs of Muslim student groups at NYU, Columbia, Yale, Rutgers and several other colleges.

Documents also surfaced indicating that plainclothes officers from the department’s Demographic Unit snapped pictures of mosques and frequented Muslim businesses in Newark. Agents also listened in on phone conversations and tapped gathering places of Muslim worshipers.

This evidence was then put into a 60-page internal police report, dubbed “NYPD Secret,” which agents used to follow leads on suspected terrorist activity.

The Times reported that Muslim residents in Newark’s heavily Arab-populated regions say they have become “reluctant to pray openly at mosques, join in faith-based groups, or frequent Muslim hangouts for fear of being watched and possibly tarred by ‘guilt by association.’”

The new voice of criticism is now New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. At a town meeting, Christie said, “I know they think their jurisdiction is the world, but their jurisdiction is New York City — so if they’re going to leave their jurisdiction … it can be dangerous.”