Top FBI Official: NYPD Operations Damaged Trust

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — The head of the FBI in New Jersey says covert operations by the New York Police Department’s intelligence division have damaged the public’s trust in New Jersey law enforcement.

The Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark Division, Michael Ward, says two NYPD investigators have been assigned to the New Jersey-based Joint Terrorism Task Force for years.

Ward told reporters Wednesday he also was aware that officers from the NYPD’s intelligence division were working in the state. But he says he wasn’t briefed on the extent of the NYPD’s operations outside the task force.

The Associated Press has detailed the police department’s secret surveillance of mosques, Muslim-owned businesses and college campuses across the Northeast.

Muslim leaders expressed concerns about the practice to New York’s police commissioner on Tuesday.