Pubdate: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: 901 Mission St., San Francisco CA 94103 Feedback: http://www.sfgate.com/select.feedback.html Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/ SUPREME COURT REMOVES A ROADBLOCK TO RIGHTS THE DECISION by the U.S. Supreme Court to stop police from erecting random roadblocks in a blind search for narcotics is especially significant in light of disturbing evidence that the federally inspired drug crusade had become an excuse to harass, and in some cases brutally assault, minority drivers. After years of public denials, New Jersey officials released 91,000 pages of internal records -- everything from training manuals to radio logs -- detailing a widespread pattern of racial profiling. According to the documents, for the past decade, at least 8 of every 10 people stopped along the New Jersey Turnpike were either African American or Hispanic, even though together they represent slightly more than 13 percent of the driving population. Lawyers for clients who are suing the state's troopers for discrimination had sought the documents for at least five years. But the issue exploded in 1998 when three unarmed and apparently innocent minority men were stopped and shot by state troopers. In an effort to explain the numbers, New Jersey Attorney General John Farmer faulted the federal Drug Enforcement Administration for issuing directives that encouraged police to stop travelers solely based on skin color. The policy begin in the 1980s, when the federal agency profiled drug smugglers as mostly people of color and enlisted local police in an interdiction effort along major highways. The DEA denies teaching discriminatory policies. At any rate, such instruction fails to justify New Jersey's disregard for fundamental constitutional rights -- the guarantee of privacy and the ban on unreasonable searches -- that the Supreme Court has now reaffirmed. "Without drawing the line at roadblocks . . . the Fourth Amendment would do little to prevent such intrusions from becoming a routine," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote. Indeed, the New Jersey experience raises questions about practices in other states with potential drug corridors, such as California. It's another reason Gov. Gray Davis ought to sign legislation to require law-enforcement agencies to keep records showing the ethnicities of the people they stop -- and why they stopped them. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens