The State Attorney General says it should not have happened and it won’t happen again. In March, a state trooper masqueraded as a member of the media at an event for Gov. Chris Christie.
Michael Hill explained NJTV News was there on March 18 when this happened in South River. The governor encountered some protestors at a town hall meeting.
The trooper dressed like a member of the news media, a journalist. He had a camera and snapped photos of folks protesting the governor’s handling of the pace of Sandy recovery in New Jersey.
When the protestors became very vocal in challenging the governor, State Police removed them from the meeting and the trooper dressed as a journalist, a news photographer, snapped several pictures, which reportedly have been deleted.
Police had said the plainclothes trooper was an added layer of protection for the governor. But, Acting Attorney General John Hoffman told Hill it is a no-no.
“We just don’t think it was necessary for security purposes. There’s a balance that you strike at everything. And the one thing about those forums is that it’s an opportunity for an open dialogue and open communication. I know that’s very important. I know that that’s what the governor wants — to make sure that there’s open communication and open dialogue. And so for security purposes, and balance, it just seemed over zealous and not necessary,” Hoffman said.
When asked if it will ever be used again, he said, “Not if there’s not some exigent need or exigent circumstance for it. I think on balance, the one thing we don’t want to do is stifle any communication or stifle people from feeling like they can express themselves freely. So, in circumstances like that, in which there’s an open town hall meeting and there’s not some exigent or unforeseen circumstance, I don’t think it’s necessary. And so, we shut that down and that won’t be happening again in those circumstances.”
The state trooper remains unnamed and no disciplinary action has been taken against him.
While law enforcement goes undercover often for many different reasons, Tom O’Reilly with the Police Institute at the Rutgers-Newark told Hill that it crosses the line in cases like this where there are no known threats against the governor.
“Why would you take this kind of approach against these protesters who are exercising their First Amendment rights? I think there are a lot of people in the law enforcement community who may see this the same way and certainly professional journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists would certainly frown upon something like this because it impugns on the integrity of journalists all around the world,” Hill said. “It goes to the credibility of those who are out there reporting legitimately and then if you’re not a real journalist, then what are you doing posing as a journalist taking pictures of people who are exercising their First Amendment rights?”
Some say it violates the public trust. “And O’Reilly says we can understand when law enforcement infiltrates groups and goes undercover when there’s criminal activity that is to be pursued, but in this case, there was no criminal activity to be pursued,” said Hill.