sayfullo saipov had been under nypd surveillance. rob schmidt is live outside that mosque in paterson, new jersey. the area of the investigation. we re in paterson, new jersey. the mosque right behind me the omar mosque has been on the radar of the nypd since 2005. all that mosque surveillance that began happening after 9/11. the suspect sayfullo saipov lived in the apartment building that literally butts right up against this mosque and we re trying to get a timeline now on how long he has been here because one man that goes to the mosque says nobody at the mosque recognized the picture and says that they don t think he has been here very long. that begs the question did he come into the new york area, into the northeast just to commit this horrible act or has he been here for longer than
here to talk to us is former new york city police department lieutenant and army veteran dr. darren fortune. doctor, good morning to you. thanks for having me. famously there was surveillance of mosques here in the united states in new york city a while back but then they stopped. right. under the bloomberg administration under police commissioner kelly they conducted this surveillance of the mosques. however, that was something that was derailed with the incoming mayor michael bloomberg. steve: right. we didn t get fruitful information with the mosque surveillance. i m a strong proponent using intel gathered by police officers that are going undercover and cooperators that are in the mosques. we need them to coalesce with law enforcement to ensure that we are able to irradicate the threat. in addition to that we need to have a credible threat of criminality in these mosques. it t. requires a mask amount of resources to conduct this surveillance. therefore, it s more fruitful f
in the unresolved problem seeing tonight, mosque surveillance in the united states. in the aftermath of the san bernardino and paris terrorist attacks, top government officials are intensifying their calls to drastically expand the surveillance of mosques. i believe there should be much more surveillance in the muslim community here in the united states. the only way you are going to find out this in advance is to do the same type of 24/7 surveillance that was done in the going after the mob, and look where the terror threat is going to come from. right now it s going to come from the muslim community and it s a small percentage but to me the only way you will find out about it in advance is by having sources on the ground with constant surveillance. joireaction from washington former cia operative josh cats and former criminal
communities. was that a good idea? the nypd intelligence division and count terrorism division have to act within established legal guidelines. in new york city, the guidelines try to balance out first amendment rights and protections with the need to protect the city. when we talk about mosque surveillance, it s a misnomer. you re looking at radicalized individuals who could be gathering at any number of places. if they are gathering at a mosque, and this happened numerous times in recent years in new york city, where there have been individuals who plotted terrorist acts in new york city who spent time at a mosque, law enforcement is not going to be barred from the premise because they re in a place where the religious services take place. the nypd has no interest in the vast majority of the muslims who will pray and go about their business at a mosque. if there is reason to believe that there is some sort of jihadist plotting underfoot, which has happened in recent years, then the
that is part of his appeal. what that means for a general election if he continues this momentum in the primary, that remains a big question. you talk about the empowerment with each controversial bit. he came out with mosque surveillance. he wants a database, a tracking system on what is going on in mosques for them to be surveilled, but syrian refugees that may come into the u.s. listen to this. i want to close mosques, i want mosques surveilled. the people that are involved in the mosques, they know who the bad ones are and they know who the good ones are. they don t talk. we have to surveil the mosques. this has something to do with syrian refugees coming into the country. a lot of what he is saying is not pc. a new poll from bloomberg