LATEST REVIEW OF STATE TROOPERS FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF PROFILING

TRENTON (AP) -- New Jersey state troopers, once accused of racial profiling
by their own superiors, have apparently changed their act, according to the
latest federal review.

A court-appointed federal monitor says two years of reforms are helping to
change a department that once routinely singled out blacks and Hispanics on
the New Jersey Turnpike for traffic stops and car searches.

Federal supervisors also credited increased supervision of road officers,
one of the reforms ordered by the court after the United States Justice
Department planned a civil rights lawsuit in 1999.

"The results of these changes are tangible," the report said.

The court-appointed supervisors reviewed 175 motor vehicle stops by
troopers over three months and found no evidence of racial profiling.

"Members of the monitoring team noted that virtually all motor vehicle
stops were made for serious violations of the criminal or motor vehicle
law," the report said. "Gone were the stops that bordered on the pretextual."

The state is also making progress in its court-ordered reform plan, the
report said.

Consent searches -- a tool critics say allows the police to focus on
minorities -- decreased 69 percent in the last six months, the review
found. Troopers who do search people after traffic stops are finding more
drugs, a sign that training has improved, the monitor wrote.

This is the fifth such report card. It was filed in United States District
Court on Friday.

"The federal monitor's report clearly demonstrates the significant progress
to date," Gov. James E. McGreevey said. "Particularly former Attorney
General John Farmer ought to be commended for his diligence and
professionalism toward achieving these meritorious results."