About eight years ago, the Monmouth County Human Relations Com-mission (MCHRC) adopted the mission of eliminating racial profiling by state and local police.
After two public hearings where many citizens 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 that police officers who practiced it would be punished.
Also at the MCHRC’s request, the New Jersey Attor-ney 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 state police are in compliance with the legal order to stop racial profiling, and that, 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. Citizens would then know whether or not they are getting fair and balanced law enforcement.
As The Star-Ledger 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 that the governor, the Legislature, or the superintendent of state police replace them and that monitoring be continued.
David Cohen
founding chairman
Larry Traub
chairman
Monmouth County
Human Relations Commission
Freehold Township