To Surveil and Protect

A series of videotapes shows evidence of New York City police officers conducting covert surveillance at various public gatherings, including a demonstration at the Republican National Convention, a Critical Mass bike ride, and a vigil for a bicyclist who had been killed in an accident. A police spokesman insists the undercover cops infiltrate such events only to keep order and protect free speech.*

The revelation comes on the heels of news that the FBI has been compiling intelligence on advocacy groups like Greenpeace as well as President Bush's recent admission that he secretly permitted the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a warrant. The New York Times, which sat on that story for a year, now reports that:

In New York, the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg* persuaded a federal judge in 2003 to enlarge the Police Department's authority to conduct investigations of political, social and religious groups. "We live in a more dangerous, constantly changing world," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

We certainly do. But it would be nice to hear the commissioner explain how spying on mourning bicyclists is supposed to make us any safer.

*At the Critical Mass bike ride, one of the cops, no doubt exercising her right to free speech, wears a button reading "Mayor Bloomberg Sucks." Only sucks is spelled $uck$.