The Maryland State Police superintendent said yesterday that he is "troubled" by methods his agency used to infiltrate and monitor peace activists and anti-death-penalty groups and called the operation an exercise in poor judgment. But one of the police officials in charge of the surveillance called the work "important and straightforward."
Since the American Civil Liberties Union forced the release of documents this month revealing the spying operation, state and federal officials have been scrambling to find out why the Maryland State Police spent 14 months in 2005-2006 monitoring protesters despite the lack of evidence that they planned any illegal activity.
In a news conference yesterday, Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, who took charge of the force after the operation ended, revealed the results of an internal investigation into the spying and reiterated that such activities have not continued and will not be renewed.
However, he said the review found a "rational explanation" for the origin of the operation. Police officials at the time launched it out of concern about the possibility of violent protests around two planned executions in 2005, he said.
But Sheridan said it was "disconcerting" that the surveillance continued for so long even though agents found no evidence of planned criminal activity. He added that he did not believe the surveillance was illegal. Top state lawmakers, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, have decried the operation as a waste of resources and contrary to the constitutional right to free assembly.
"It shouldn't have gone on so long, and there's no reason for it," Sheridan said. He also said the tactics of the operation - agents secretly joined protest groups and spent 288 hours monitoring and recording their activities - were "very concerning to me."
Sheridan said he first learned about the surveillance operation "recently," though as Baltimore County police chief at the time he served on a the statewide homeland security committee and received briefings about potential security threats. O'Malley, as Baltimore mayor at the time, oversaw the city Police Department, which received several reports about the surveillance.
Sheridan named two assistant state police chiefs as having been involved in launching the operation. One of them, reached at home, defended the work.
"There's nothing to hide, to be quite honest with you," said Mark Gabriele, who retired in November 2005 as captain in charge of the homeland security and intelligence division. "I don't feel the state police did anything wrong."
