It was disturbing to hear New York Gov. David A. Paterson mention Friday that fears of a rogue unit in the New York State Police drove him to admit to past extramarital affairs.

The day after he became governor, Mr. Paterson admitted publicly that he had engaged in extramarital relationships a few years ago when his marriage was in trouble.

Part of the reason he discussed the personal matter was to avoid having the information leaked by what he called an "out-of-control" element in the state police that he believed was investigating politicians.

The governor said he had no evidence to support his claim, but that more than 10 state legislators of both parties had told him they thought they had been tailed by the state police. Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican, has alleged as much. Some of the legislators had said they were stopped for traffic violations "and then had to read about in on blogs," according to the governor.

Answering a question on a radio show, Gov. Paterson said: "There was obviously an element in the police force and it wasn't Republican or Democrat, it was just out-of-control people who had power that were clearly monitoring a lot of the elected officials and I was kind of afraid of leaks of inaccurate information about something and that was another thing that pushed me to speak."

The complaints from other politicians caused him to ask state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate whether state police were secretly monitoring politicians.

The attorney general must get to the bottom of the matter swiftly. Obviously, excessive police behavior is not wanted and should be addressed — if it is occurring.

If there is indeed a rogue unit, that needs to be corrected. If nothing improper is happening, that should be known. The state police is a reputable, well-respected agency with many dedicated and even heroic public servants.

All the more reason for the allegations to be resolved. Leadership must get to the heart of the matter.