NEW JERSEY TROOPERS SEEK NEW LEADERSHIP

The head of the union representing New Jersey's state troopers is urging
that the force no longer be supervised by the state attorney general,
whom he criticized for dropping drug and weapons charges against 128
people who claimed they were victims of racial profiling.

In a two-page statement reflecting deep disenchantment with the state's
latest response to profiling, the union president, Edward H. Lennon,
said yesterday that a ``clear, consistent and pervasive anti-trooper
bias'' existed in the office of the attorney general, John J. Farmer Jr.

On Feb. 2, Mr. Farmer announced that he was reluctantly dropping charges
against the 128 defendants, saying that the accusations of profiling
could make their cases difficult to win, and that prosecuting the cases
would hinder the state's effort to move beyond the allegations against
state troopers.

Mr. Lennon said that his union, which represents all 1,650 troopers
below the rank of sergeant, planned to make dismissal of the cases an
issue this election year and that it would propose legislation to remove
the state police from the attorney general's jurisdiction. Instead, it
would propose making the department a cabinet-level agency under the
direct control of the governor.

Mr. Lennon said in an interview after his statement was distributed in
the State House in Trenton that the transfer would give the head of the
state police, Col. Carson J. Dunbar Jr., more control over the
department's day-to-day operations. ``We would have a career law
enforcement officer running the division, rather than an attorney,'' Mr.
Lennon said.

Mr. Farmer declined to respond to the union's statement. ``It would be
inappropriate to comment,'' said his spokesman, Chuck Davis, with no
explanation.

A spokesman for Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco said it was premature
to comment on the union statement because Mr. DiFrancesco had not seen
it or talked with Mr. Lennon about plans to seek the legislation. The
spokesman, Tom Wilson, said that Mr. DiFrancesco fully supported Mr.
Farmer's decision to drop the charges.

``He did what he believed was in the best interest of the people of New
Jersey,'' Mr. Wilson said of Mr. Farmer.

Colonel Dunbar said that there was ``tremendous disappointment'' and a
``lot of confusion'' within state police ranks, but that he disagreed
with the union's desire to put the department under the governor's
direct control.

``In my 15 months here, I've had pretty much all the freedom I want,''
Colonel Dunbar said. ``I've had a tremendous amount of independence,
whether people want to believe it or not.''

In addition, he said a transfer would be impractical because the
attorney general's office would still assign lawyers to prosecute
defendants arrested by troopers, no matter who oversaw the department's
operations.

Colonel Dunbar also defended Mr. Farmer's decision to seek dismissal of
the 128 cases as ``courageous,'' and he appealed to troopers not to take
the action personally. ``In life, tough decisions have to be made, and
they're often difficult decisions,'' Colonel Dunbar said, adding that he
would now focus on working to ensure that arrests by troopers could
withstand legal challenge.

``We did our job good before,'' he said. ``We just have to do our job
better in the future. Everything we're doing is viewed through an
absolute microscope, and we're not being given the benefit of the doubt
anymore. We just have to go back and re-educate so there's no question
whatsoever about the legality of what we do.''

Mr. Lennon said he had written the statement with the help of a lawyer,
without any input from other officers in the union, the State Troopers
Fraternal Association of New Jersey. He said it represented the
sentiments of the troopers. As for trooper morale, he said: ``'These are
some of the lowest times I've seen.''

In the statement, he contended that the 128 cases were dropped because
of ``political expediency.''

``Dumping drug and gun cases is not an option,'' the statement said.
``The only thing the attorney general's office didn't do was give these
people back their drugs and guns with an apology. Is this what the
people of New Jersey want? It's not what we want.''

In the interview yesterday, Mr. Lennon argued that instead of dropping
the cases, the attorney general should have taken them to court, so
troopers could testify about their stops and justify them and then let a
judge or jury decide if the 128 people were victims of racial profiling.

``They were not all profiling stops,'' he said. ``I'm confident these
stops were done with probable cause -- speeding or weaving in and out of
lanes. To throw them all out is disgraceful.''