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.