N.J. Bill Would Put State In Charge Of Monitoring Troopers

A consent agreement allowing the Justice Department to monitor state police in New Jersey could be dissolved under a bill that would shift the responsibility to the state Attorney General's Office. The monitoring began a decade ago in an attempt to eliminate racial profiling. Under the bill, which awaits Gov. Corzine's signature after its passage last week, the Attorney General's Office would assume oversight and monitoring of motor-vehicle stops by troopers, investigations of misconduct, and training and policies of the state police. Corzine's advisory committee on police standards recommended the change more than a year ago to pave the way for the attorney general to petition a federal judge to lift the consent agreement. The bill also codifies a series of changes made by state police during the monitoring. These include the installation of cameras in all patrol vehicles and the collection of data during motor-vehicle stops to make sure minorities are not disproportionately stopped or searched. Read full article from Philadelphia Inquirer here.