Monitors needed to protect against racial profiling

About eight years ago, the Monmouth County Human Relations Commission (MCHRC) adopted the mission of eliminating racial profiling by state and local police. After two public hearings where many residents described their experiences of racial profiling, the Monmouth County Prosecutor - at the request of the MCHRC - issued a policy statement to all Monmouth County police departments that racial profiling was illegal and police officers who practiced it would be punished. Also at the MCHRC's request, the New Jersey attorney general issued that policy to all police officers in New Jersey. Federal monitors were appointed to determine the degree of compliance by the New Jersey State Police.

Now the federal monitors have reported that the New Jersey State Police are in compliance with the legal order to stop racial profiling, and therefore the monitors' function is no longer required and should be eliminated. The MCHRC is strongly opposed to that. Elimination of monitoring has historically resulted in backsliding. We do not want racial profiling to begin again as other discriminatory practices did when monitoring stopped.

If the federal monitors are removed, then they should be replaced by other monitors. A computerized system is in place to track trooper activity and document profiling. A state statute or regulation should provide the force of law to mandate tracking. We urge lawmakers to pass A827, a bill that "requires quarterly studies of police motor vehicle stops to be filed with governor and Legislature and be made available to the public." Residents would then know whether or not they are getting fair and balanced law enforcement.

As a daily newspaper editorialized, "There are many reasons to be encouraged that racial profiling is no longer systematic in New Jersey. But trouble spots remain. To this day, for example, 30 percent of the drivers pulled over along the southern stretch of the turnpike are minorities, compared with 16 percent for the entire toll road. That's the same as when the state entered into federal decree. Only continued tight controls can determine whether the stops are the result of good police work or something else."

If the federal monitors are removed, we strongly urge the governor, the Legislature, or the superintendent of state police replace them and monitoring be continued.

David Cohen

founding chairman

Larry Traub

chairman

Monmouth County Human

Relations Commission

Freehold