Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jul 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
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Author: Associated Press

OLD POLICE MEMO DETAILS RACIAL PROFILING

TRENTON, July 25 -- A memo written three years ago to a former New Jersey 
State Police superintendent appears to back claims that he and other state 
officials, including the attorney general, were aware of racial profiling 
long before publicly acknowledging the practice. The memo, contained in 
court papers and first reported today by The Star-Ledger of Newark, claims 
that troopers were searching minority drivers much more than white drivers.

The document appears to support assertions made recently by the former 
state police superintendent, Carl Williams, that he and other state 
officials knew of the practice.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said today that the memo showed that her 
administration was justified in ordering major reforms of the state police.

The governor refused to discuss the memo -- and the implication that 
officials knew racial profiling existed -- in detail, citing several 
pending lawsuits as her reason.

But Mrs. Whitman did say she would not back off from attempts to change the 
system that allowed racial profiling.

"We're going to continue with our reforms," she said. "This is why we need 
to continue with our efforts to reform the state police."

A spokesman for Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. said it was likely that 
several more memos from the state police would be made public as several 
lawsuits and criminal prosecutions continue in the courts.

"They will really underscore that we've taken the right remedial steps," 
said a state police spokesman, Roger Shatzkin.

In a meeting with reporters on June 13, Mr. Williams said he repeatedly 
asked Peter G. Verniero, who was then attorney general, for legal advice on 
dealing with troopers who might have targeted minority drivers.

"I was concerned that there was the possibility some of our troopers might 
have been taking some liberties," Mr. Williams said.

He said those discussions came as there was "some interest being shown by 
the Justice Department."

The Star-Ledger reported today that the internal letter to Mr. Williams was 
written by a state police sergeant in 1997.

"At this point, we are in a very bad spot," the memo read. "The Justice 
Department has a very good understanding of how we operate and what type of 
numbers they can get their hands on to prove their position."

The letter also detailed data from a state police survey of 160 searches 
conducted by troopers. That study examined work done by troopers at the 
Moorestown barracks from April to December in 1994 and again from July to 
December in 1996.

Minority drivers accounted for 89 percent of those searched by state 
troopers, according to the memo.

In April 1999, the attorney general admitted in a report that minority 
motorists accounted for 77 percent of those searched by troopers assigned 
to barracks patrolling the New Jersey Turnpike.

Mr. Williams claimed he was "terminated" before he received any formal 
response from Mr. Verniero.

Mrs. Whitman directed Mr. Verniero to ask Mr. Williams for his resignation 
in February 1999. That order came the same day Williams was quoted in a 
newspaper interview as linking minorities to drug trafficking.

Earlier this month, a judge dismissed most of a lawsuit in which Mr. 
Williams claimed he was discriminated against and fired improperly by Mrs. 
Whitman and Mr. Verniero.
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