The New York City police repeatedly broke intelligence-gathering rules while targeting Muslims for surveillance after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, says the police department’s Office of the Inspector General. The agency said the police department’s Intelligence Bureau regularly let deadlines pass before asking to extend investigations into political activity, and often failed to explain the roles of undercover officers and confidential informers, as required, reports the New York Times. “The fact that deadlines were missed and rules were violated is troubling and must be rectified,” the report said.
The report did find that the police had acted properly in choosing whom it would investigate and why. That led police counterterrorism chief John Miller to call the report a “clean bill of health” for the nation’s largest municipal police force. The report said that the failures that had been uncovered demonstrated “the need for ongoing oversight” of the department, and it included 11 new recommendations.