News last month that the New York Police Department had engaged in widespread surveillance of Muslims throughout New York City and parts of New Jersey was denounced by politicians and law enforcement professionals. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) said he didn’t know if the NYPD program was “born out of arrogance or paranoia,” Attorney General Eric Holder characterized the reports as “disturbing” and FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge Michael Ward warned that fallout from the surveillance program had made the FBI’s job harder than ever and damaged the Bureau’s relationships with Muslim communities in New Jersey.

But while the NYPD’s spying program has faced criticism, a new poll released today by Quinnipiac University finds that only 29 percent of New York City voters think the police have unfairly targeted Muslims to combat terrorism. Fifty-eight percent think the NYPD’s behavior has been appropriate and 13 percent didn’t know or had no answer. The poll did not ask voters specifically about the Muslim monitoring program.

The NYPD, which has enjoyed broad community support since September 11, 2001, receives high marks for its anti-terrorism work. Eighty-two percent of NYC voters think the police department has been effective in combating terrorism, a 5 percent increase since a February 9 poll conducted days after the scandal was first reported by the Associated Press.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) called for an investigation into the reported use of White House funds by the NYPD for its “religious and racial profiling activities.” But while reports on the NYPD’s spying on Muslim communities in the NYC area got widespread pickup in national and international news media, New York voters appear unlikely to hold public officials responsible.

The poll found that NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly — the city official ultimately responsible for overseeing the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims — has a 64 percent approval rating and 28 percent of voters would be more likely to vote for a mayoral candidate who promises to ask Kelly to continue as police commissioner. Nineteen percent of voters would be less likely to vote for such a candidate.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, like Kelly, has refused to apologize for the surveillance program, enjoys a 67 – 27 percent approval rating for the way he is handling crime.

New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie escalated a cross-Hudson war of words with New York City last night, complaining on a radio show about allegations that the New York Police Department (NYPD) went outside its jurisdiction to spy on Muslims in Newark, Rutgers University, and possibly other locations. He said he didn’t know if the NYPD’s actions were “born out of arrogance or paranoia.”

The Associated Press has issued a series of reports on NYPD’s secret surveillance of Muslims in New York and outside the state. In response, a coalition of New Jersey Muslim groups wrote to Christie to ask for a full investigation of the allegations. The New Jersey attorney general began an investigation and, at a previous town hall meeting, deferred judgement on civil liberties issues to the outcome of the inquiry.

But spending eight minutes of his Wednesday “Ask the Governor” radio show on the matter, Christie escalated his complaints about the NYPD’s conduct on the basis of jurisdictional issues. “My concern is this kind of obsession that the NYPD seems to have that they’re the masters of the universe,” he said, noting that he did not recall being informed of the spying at the time, when he was a federal prosecutor in the state. He went on to speculate about what caused the lapse in coordination:

CHRISTIE: I don’t know if it was born out of ignorance or paranoia.

HOST: But you think lives could have been at risk, because they refuse to share or be forthcoming.

CHRISTIE: They always can be. In terms of law enforcement lives when you got people stumbling over each other who are surveilling the same people. Also, because we know… that the basis of criticism after 9/11 was the refusal of rival law enforcement agencies to share information with each other.

Watch a clip of the Christie interview:

Christie also had harsh words for NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who, like New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, has refused to apologize for the surveillance or its scope outside New York. The host of “Ask the Governor” noted that Kelly had not apologized, prompting Christie to reply: “Of course! Because he’s Ray Kelly! What are you going to do? He’s all knowing, all seeing.” Kelly came under fire last month for appearing in a film by an Islamophobic group called the Clarion Fund, and, after dissembling about his role, apologized.

Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney Eric Holder said the Justice Department was reviewing the NYPD surveillance to determine if there were civil rights violations.

New York City Policy Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly offered a written apology for his appearance in a film deemed by critics, including the Center For American Progress in its “Fear, Inc.” report, to promote Islamophobia. Kelly appeared in the film, called the Third Jihad, which was shown in the registration area of a counter-terror training session for police.

Today, Kelly himself offered an apology for his appearance in the film, according to the Associated Press:

I offer my apologies to members of the Muslim community, in particular, who would find the film inflammatory and its airing on Department property, though unauthorized, to be inappropriate.

A Kelly aide denied to the New York Times, in an article published Tuesday, that Kelly had cooperated with the filmmakers of the Third Jihad. The film’s producers, the Clarion Fund, complained that the statement was inaccurate. “In fact, Kelly gave our filmmakers an hour and a half interview for use in the film,” the group wrote in a blog post where they linked to the just-published full interview. Kelly’s aide then retreated from his statements in a subsequent interview with the Times.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement earlier today calling on New York City officials to order a full investigation into the repeated showing of the the film. HRW took particular issue with the false information provided by the NYPD, as reported in the Village Voice, that the film had only been shown “a couple of times” when newly released police documents show it was screened on a “continuous loop.”

“The New York City police not only showed an offensive anti-Muslim film during training, but its leadership grossly misrepresented the scope of the problem,” said Alison Parker, U.S. program director at Human Rights Watch. “A real investigation is promptly needed, with real results.”

Yesterday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized the police department for airing the film. “Somebody exercised some terrible judgment,” the mayor said. “As soon as they found out about it, they stopped it.” As to where the bad judgment came in, Bloomberg wasn’t sure and hinted at a possible investigation: “I don’t know who [was responsible]. We’ll find out.”