City investigators say the NYPD failed to comply with its own rules when it comes to investigating terrorism cases, nearly all of which targeted Muslims or people involved in activities associated with Islam. But the police department is actually celebrating the findings, arguing that the overall message is that the department is doing its job properly and without ulterior motives. Our Grace Rauh has more.
When the Police Department opens an investigation into a terrorism case, officers have a fixed period of time in which to do their work. At a certain point the official authorization of an investigation expires. But a report from the city's Department of Investigation - conducted by the NYPD Inspector General - found that more than half of the time, police forged ahead with their probes anyway... ignoring the rules that govern the way they handle investigations into potential terror and political activities.
"It's possible to keep the city safe and to follow the rules," said Philip Eure, NYPD Inspector General.
The report chided the Police Department for using confidential informants and undercover officers even after approval of those sources had expired. And the NYPD came under fire for only vaguely describing the role an undercover officer would play in an investigation.
"These failures cannot be dismissed or minimized as paperwork or administrative errors," the report said.
However, the NYPD was actually celebrating the report, zeroing in on the finding that they had valid and factual reasons for opening the terror-related investigations in question.
"I think if we look at it objectively, what we got here was an extraordinarily helpful clean bill of health and some good recommendations about how to improve tracking processes," said John Miller, the department's Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
The investigations commissioner argued that the praise the department heaped on itself seemed to miss the point.
"To say that this was a clean bill of health was to paint with too broad a brush stroke," said Department of Investigations Commissioner Mark Peters. "We did find that the NYPD was able to state a valid factual basis for opening their investigations and that's really important. On the other hand we also found that a lot of the rules designed to make sure that we don't pose a risk to constitutional rights were not getting followed all of the time."
The inspector general and commissioner say that going forward they will be keeping close tabs on the NYPD to ensure the department is following all the rules.