RECORDS CONFIRM RACE PROFILING BUT NOT COVERUP, N.J. OFFICIAL SAYS

TRENTON, N.J. -- Nearly 100,000 pages of documents made public Monday show
that New Jersey state troopers stopped overwhelmingly disproportionate
numbers of minorities in drug searches, the state's attorney general says.

However, no evidence was found that the state hid evidence that troopers
searched minority motorists based solely on the color of their skin, he said.

New Jersey is committed to ending racial profiling,

Gov. Christie Whitman said in a written statement Monday.

``While racial profiling did not begin in this state or under this
administration, history will show that the end of racial profiling in
American did indeed begin in New Jersey and under this administration,''
Whitman said.

The documents were expected to show that for more than a decade state
leaders knew about the large numbers of minorities being searched and tried
to balance that knowledge against legal drug-busting strategies -- some of
which received a White House blessing.

For seven out of every 10 minority drivers whose cars were searched ``there
was nothing there. From a social-policy point of view, that's a disaster,''
Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. told the Associated Press on Sunday.
``Did we do enough soon enough? The answer is no or we wouldn't be here
today.''

In an April 1999 report, former Attorney General Peter Verniero admitted
members of minority groups were targeted. That was a year after two
troopers shot and wounded three minority men during a traffic stop on the
New Jersey Turnpike and sparked a furor over racial profiling.

But according to the new documents, Verniero and his predecessors were
aware for more than 10 years that minority drivers on the turnpike were
being stopped and searched more than whites.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said police can use race as a factor in
motor-vehicle stops, Farmer said. The Justice Department included race in
profiles of traffickers said to be using the turnpike as a drug pipeline,
he said.

``What you'll see is an agency and a department struggling with these
uncertainties,'' he said. ``There was no overarching conspiracy to cover
this up. There was an attempt to understand it. There was an attempt to put
it into context.''

``My hope is by getting all of this out, the people will understand, will
see the whole picture,'' he said.

Black and other minority leaders praised the release of the materials, but
criticized Farmer's conclusions.

``It saddens and discourages me. Those comments reek of insensitivity, just
trying to find cover for obvious acts of disobedience,'' said state
Democratic Assemblyman LeRoy Jones.

``We find this spin to be an affront and insult to the minority community
in this state,'' said Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black
Ministers Council of New Jersey.

The attorney general announced in September that he would release the
records, after months of fighting the move in court. Defense attorneys
claimed the records would prove biased troopers tainted hundreds of arrests.

Farmer said at the time that he wanted to make the files available
``outside the context of litigation.''

State police memos from 1990 will show that former Attorney General Robert
Del Tufo and state police superintendent Col. Justin Dintino saw reports
showing overwhelming percentages of minorities were targeted, Farmer said.

An order to the troopers from Dintino demanded a halt to that, another
record being made public shows, Farmer said.

After an internal investigation, four troopers were indicted and 20 others
were fired, he said.

This month, federal prosecutors agreed to consider criminal charges against
the two troopers involved in the 1998 turnpike shooting.

That followed dismissal of charges against the troopers by a state judge.