A law that would require the New York Police Department to alert New Jersey officials before conducting surveillance in the state will be taken up by an Assembly panel on Monday.
The bill comes in response to secret NYPD surveillance of New Jersey Muslims and mosques uncovered earlier this year.
Governor Christie and other state officials have denied knowing the full scope of the NYPD program before it became public, but the NYPD has insisted New Jersey officials were informed.
The legislation would require any out-of-state law enforcement agency to inform New Jersey’s attorney general and state police superintendant before monitoring anyone inside the state.
It will be considered in the Assembly’s Homeland Security Committee on Monday.
The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Charles Mainor, D-Hudson, said notification is a matter of respect.
“Someone within our state should be notified that someone is coming in from another state to conduct surveillance,” he said. The law could also help agencies avoid stepping on each other’s toes, he said.
The New York police watched and photographed Muslim institutions and monitored Muslim student groups at universities, including Rutgers. They sometimes used informants to infiltrate Muslim organizations and events. The secret program, which lasted for years, was uncovered this year by The Associated Press.
State Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa concluded that the NYPD’s program did not break any laws. But if Mainor’s bill becomes law, the attorney general could ask the New Jersey Superior Court to order the surveillance to stop if the out-of-state agency did not give proper notification.
The act would require out-of-state law enforcement to give New Jersey officials several key pieces of information, including the identities of the officers involved in the program and the targets of the surveillance. The time and location of the surveillance, as well as an explanation of the program’s goals, would also have to be disclosed.