Cops push to block probe into racial profiling during car stops

Three unions that represent New Jersey State Police have sued New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin in a bid to block his investigation into whether troopers deliberately slowed down traffic enforcement in response to claims of racial profiling in stops.

Union officials want a state judge to toss five subpoenas Platkin’s office issued in April demanding documents and ordering them to appear before a state grand jury probing the alleged slowdown. They also want the judge to bar the outside attorneys Platkin appointed from investigating further.

In three lawsuits filed late last month, union leaders refute claims of racial profiling, insist the 3,000-member agency is already subject to robust oversight, and accuse Platkin of unconstitutional, retaliatory interference with their rights to advocate for union members.

“In serving the subject subpoenas upon Plaintiffs, the NCOA and its President and three Vice Presidents, Defendants have, by threats, intimidation, coercion or force, engaged in a bald-faced, outrageous attempt at union busting,” states a complaint filed by the State Troopers Non-Commissioned Officers Association of New Jersey. The group represents 1,000 state police sergeants.

The State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey, a 1,900-member union that represents troopers and detectives, and the State Troopers Superior Officers Association, which represents lieutenants and captains, also filed complaints in state Superior Court in Mercer County, naming the state as well as Platkin as defendants.

The first complaint was filed June 19 — the same day several state legislators introduced a bill that would remove the state police from Platkin’s control. The agency now is part of the state department of law and public safety, which Platkin helms; the seven legislators who sponsored the bill want to make the state police its own department answerable directly to the governor.

Platkin’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuits.

Tensions have grown between the state police and Platkin almost since Gov. Phil Murphy nominated him for the post in February 2022. The state police’s union leaders accused Platkin in their June complaints of “continuous and systematic attacks.”

Those lawsuits stem from a report Platkin released in July 2023, in which an academic researcher reviewed more than 6 million traffic stops from 2009 to 2021 and found state troopers stopped, searched, and used force against Black and Hispanic motorists far more than they did against white motorists. Platkin paired the report’s release with an announcement that he would launch a pilot program aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in traffic enforcement statewide.

Union leaders acted quickly. Within a week, they issued notices to be posted on stations’ union bulletin boards, warning troopers that traffic stops posed perils and “internal and external entities who seemingly wish to see us fail” would be scrutinizing every stop and enforcement action.

“It appears increasingly likely you may be considered guilty until proven innocent by entities with questionable agendas,” one notice read. “Please be safe and protect yourself and your fellow Troopers.”

Last December, the New York Times found that traffic stops plummeted in the eight months after the unions’ warnings. Platkin responded by announcing an investigation into the alleged slowdown and appointing Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to lead the probe.

But union officials disputed criticisms and asked Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general at the time, to step in and review New Jersey state police stop data. They also complained about a backlog of cases affecting about 100 troopers under investigation by Platkin’s public integrity and accountability office, asking Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislators to intervene.

In their June lawsuits, union officials say Platkin’s concerns are about troopers’ work conduct, so his probe should have been administrative and not criminal. They noted that no troopers had been disciplined for any traffic enforcement deficiencies and that Platkin never launched the pilot program he promised. Their notices of the perils of traffic stops constituted protected union advice to members, they added.

They denied any racial profiling and noted they had their own academic researchers review traffic stops. They came to different conclusions, the union leaders said, citing as an example one trooper whose numbers were skewed because he was assigned to patrol a stretch of the turnpike in Hudson County that’s home to a large Hispanic population. That trooper also used a laser speed detector to target motorists for stops, they added.

They also pointed to oversight ordered in recent decades intended to thwart traffic enforcement abuses, including a federal consent decree in place from 1999 to 2009, the state’s subsequent enactment of a law enforcement professional standards office, and annual performance reviews by the state comptroller’s office. Troopers also must report the demographics of every motorist they stop, use body and dashboard cameras, and undergo regular supervisory reviews of searches, requests, pursuits, and more, they said.

“The New Jersey State Police has for decades been the subject of rigorous and comprehensive internal and external oversight regarding motor vehicle enforcement. As a result, the New Jersey State Police is one of the most professional, well-trained, and competent law enforcement agencies in the country,” attorneys wrote.