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Judge Orders Police Department
Files on Preconvention Surveillance Opened
COLIN MOYNIHAN
NY
Times
Thursday May 17, 2007
A federal magistrate judge yesterday released about 600 pages
of secret documents relating to police preparations for the 2004
Republican National Convention, held in New York.
On May 4, the magistrate judge, James C. Francis IV, granted a
request by the New York Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times
to make the documents public, but also granted a 10-day stay to
give the city time to file an appeal.
But in a letter to the judge dated Tuesday, a lawyer for the city,
Peter G. Farrell, wrote that the city would not appeal, “in
light of the documents’ prior disclosure and corresponding
press coverage.”
The city had originally opposed the release of the documents because,
it insisted, news organizations and legal groups would “fixate
upon and sensationalize them,” and thus taint the potential
pool of jurors who might later be asked to decide cases brought
in connection with some of the nearly 2,000 arrests during the convention.
The Times reported in March that the Police Department had conducted
wide-ranging surveillance of political groups and activists who
were planning to attend the convention. While a small number appeared
to be bent on creating trouble, the authorities said that most of
those who came apparently had no plans to break the law. The surveillance
was necessary, police officials have said, to head off possible
terrorism or violent protests.
The documents that were unsealed yesterday during a conference
in Federal District Court in Manhattan consisted of summary reports
filed by detectives involved in police surveillance operations leading
to the convention.
A second batch of documents contains raw intelligence reports produced
by detectives upon which the summary reports were based. A sampling
of those unfiltered reports reviewed by The Times shows that they
include more detailed information about the groups and individuals
that were watched and in some cases disclose how the undercover
officers conducted the surveillance.
Judge Francis said that he would rule next week on motions from
the city objecting to the release of that material to the plaintiffs.
The summary reports released yesterday and other raw intelligence
reports that have not yet been made public show that before the
convention, detectives traveled to at least 15 places, including
cities in Canada and Europe, where they often posed as activists
or sympathizers while participating in political meetings held by
church groups, antiwar organizations and environmentalists, among
others. The police have said that they needed to find out about
what they called dangerous groups that they said were intent on
disrupting the convention and breaking the law.
“I think a close examination of the documents will show that
the New York City Police Department did an outstanding job of protecting
this city during the Republican National Convention,” Police
Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday. “People wanted
to come here to shut down the city, to replicate what happened in
Seattle and Montreal and Genoa, and we simply did not let that happen.”
Civil rights lawyers have said that the records show that the police
monitored many law-abiding citizens who were engaged in legally
protected activities.
“This is an important first step toward exposing the N.Y.P.D.’s
surveillance of political groups planning demonstrations at the
convention,” said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director
of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“There are many more documents that remain secret, however,
and this controversy will continue until the city releases all the
documents.”
The judge also suggested that “the city might consider whether
or not they want to proceed” with its request for a special
inquiry into the sources for a New York Times article about the
surveillance program.
City lawyers initially accused the civil liberties union lawyers
of leaking the information, then dropped that charge and conceded
that they did not know who had provided the information.
In his letter to the judge, Mr. Farrell wrote that the city will
continue to seek “relief due to the disclosure of the intelligence
documents in violation of the protective order,” under which
the records were once sealed.
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