TRENTON — The New Jersey ACLU called on State Police today to explain why they took pictures of protesters at Gov. Chris Christie's town hall meeting on Tuesday.

“It raises serious First Amendment concerns that the State Police may be photographing protesters at Gov. Christie’s town hall meetings,” Udi Ofer, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey, said in a statement.

“The State Police must come clean and explain to New Jerseyans whether it has a practice or policy of photographing people engaged in First Amendment protected speech," he added. "New Jerseyans must be able to express their viewpoints without having to fear police officers photographing them and creating political dossiers on them."

The incident was reported by Politicker NJ, a political news website and by the Associated Press. The reports said a man taking photos of the protestors at a town hall meeting in South River identified himself a member of the State Police.

Christie’s spokesman referred questions to the State Police, who would not confirm or deny the reports.

The Republican governor has held more than 100 town hall meetings with minimal visible security measures, but security has become more apparent recently.

Last week, State Police began using hand-held metal detectors to "wand" attendees as they entered a town hall event in Mount Laurel. They followed the same procedure Tuesday in Middlesex County.

In both instances, protesters interrupted the proceedings to ask Christie questions about the controversial closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September and Sandy funding issues.

Christie, who hasn't taken questions from the press since Jan. 9, will hold a town hall in Flemington on Thursday and another in Belmar next week.

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