OLD POLICE MEMO DETAILS RACIAL PROFILING

TRENTON, July 25 -- A memo written three years ago to a former New Jersey
State Police superintendent appears to back claims that he and other state
officials, including the attorney general, were aware of racial profiling
long before publicly acknowledging the practice. The memo, contained in
court papers and first reported today by The Star-Ledger of Newark, claims
that troopers were searching minority drivers much more than white drivers.

The document appears to support assertions made recently by the former
state police superintendent, Carl Williams, that he and other state
officials knew of the practice.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said today that the memo showed that her
administration was justified in ordering major reforms of the state police.

The governor refused to discuss the memo -- and the implication that
officials knew racial profiling existed -- in detail, citing several
pending lawsuits as her reason.

But Mrs. Whitman did say she would not back off from attempts to change the
system that allowed racial profiling.

"We're going to continue with our reforms," she said. "This is why we need
to continue with our efforts to reform the state police."

A spokesman for Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. said it was likely that
several more memos from the state police would be made public as several
lawsuits and criminal prosecutions continue in the courts.

"They will really underscore that we've taken the right remedial steps,"
said a state police spokesman, Roger Shatzkin.

In a meeting with reporters on June 13, Mr. Williams said he repeatedly
asked Peter G. Verniero, who was then attorney general, for legal advice on
dealing with troopers who might have targeted minority drivers.

"I was concerned that there was the possibility some of our troopers might
have been taking some liberties," Mr. Williams said.

He said those discussions came as there was "some interest being shown by
the Justice Department."

The Star-Ledger reported today that the internal letter to Mr. Williams was
written by a state police sergeant in 1997.

"At this point, we are in a very bad spot," the memo read. "The Justice
Department has a very good understanding of how we operate and what type of
numbers they can get their hands on to prove their position."

The letter also detailed data from a state police survey of 160 searches
conducted by troopers. That study examined work done by troopers at the
Moorestown barracks from April to December in 1994 and again from July to
December in 1996.

Minority drivers accounted for 89 percent of those searched by state
troopers, according to the memo.

In April 1999, the attorney general admitted in a report that minority
motorists accounted for 77 percent of those searched by troopers assigned
to barracks patrolling the New Jersey Turnpike.

Mr. Williams claimed he was "terminated" before he received any formal
response from Mr. Verniero.

Mrs. Whitman directed Mr. Verniero to ask Mr. Williams for his resignation
in February 1999. That order came the same day Williams was quoted in a
newspaper interview as linking minorities to drug trafficking.

Earlier this month, a judge dismissed most of a lawsuit in which Mr.
Williams claimed he was discriminated against and fired improperly by Mrs.
Whitman and Mr. Verniero.