July 27, 2004

NEWARK, NJ — The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed the news that the Attorney General has decided to dismiss the appeal in State v. Soto, the Gloucester County case in which the trial court found a practice of racial profiling, but said the dismissal is too little too late. The ACLU asserted that the Governor must do much more to address the widespread problems of policing in this state.

“It is about time that the Attorney General acknowledged that a problem exists,” said Lenora Lapidus, Legal Director of the ACLU-NJ. “Evidence that the State Police use race as a basis for making stops along the New Jersey Turnpike was presented to the court five years ago. Despite this evidence, and despite the Judge's ruling that this discriminatory practice exists, the State repeatedly denied the blatant truth.”

In a motion filed with the Appellate Division today, the Attorney General asserted that the State was withdrawing the appeal as a result of its ongoing investigation of racial profiling. The ACLU responded that this action was too little too late.

“The State's decision to withdraw the appeal does not begin to address the problem of racial profiling,” stated William Buckman, one of the attorneys representing the defendants in the Soto case. “The Governor and the Attorney General must make a sincere commitment to root out the problem, including massive retraining of police officers.”

Evidence presented in 1994 and 1995 at trial in Soto showed that although African Americans comprised only 13.5% of the drivers, and 15% of the vehicles speeding, along a stretch of the Turnpike in South Jersey, they comprised 46.2% of the people stopped by the State Police in that area. In March 1996, Superior Court Judge Robert Francis found a state-condoned policy of racial profiling was in operation on the New Jersey Turnpike. The court found that troopers patrolling the Turnpike in Gloucester County used racial profiles in stopping and arresting African Americans and Latinos from 1988 to 1991. The court also found an “utter failure by the State Police hierarchy to monitor and control ... or investigate the many claims of institutional discrimination.” The State's appeal in State v. Soto, Docket No. A-5534-95T3, was scheduled for oral argument before the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division on April 28.

The ACLU-NJ will release a report later this week that shows the problems of policing in New Jersey run much deeper than racial profiling by State Troopers along the New Jersey Turnpike.