Supreme Court Removes
A Roadblock to Rights
sfgate.com
Thursday, November 30, 2000
THE DECISION by the U.S. Supreme
Court to stop police from erecting
random roadblocks in a blind search
for narcotics is especially significant
in light of disturbing evidence that
the federally inspired drug crusade
had become an excuse to harass, and
in some cases brutally assault,
minority drivers.
After years of public denials, New
Jersey officials released 91,000 pages
of internal records -- everything from
training manuals to radio logs --
detailing a widespread pattern of
racial profiling. According to the
documents,
for the past decade, at least 8 of every
10 people stopped along the New
Jersey Turnpike were either African
American or Hispanic, even though
together they represent slightly more
than 13 percent of the driving
population.
Lawyers for clients who are suing the
state's troopers for discrimination had
sought the documents for at least five
years. But the issue exploded in 1998
when three unarmed and apparently
innocent minority men were stopped
and shot by state troopers.
In an effort to explain the numbers,
New Jersey Attorney General John
Farmer faulted the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration for
issuing directives that encouraged
police to stop travelers solely based
on skin color.
The policy begin in the 1980s, when
the federal agency profiled drug
smugglers as mostly people of color
and enlisted local police in an
interdiction effort along major
highways.
The DEA denies teaching
discriminatory policies. At any rate,
such instruction fails to justify New
Jersey's disregard for fundamental
constitutional rights -- the guarantee
of privacy and the ban on
unreasonable searches -- that the
Supreme Court has now reaffirmed.
"Without drawing the line at
roadblocks . . . the Fourth
Amendment would do little to
prevent such intrusions from
becoming a routine," Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor wrote.
Indeed, the New Jersey experience
raises questions about practices in
other states with potential drug
corridors, such as California. It's
another reason Gov. Gray Davis
ought to sign legislation to require
law-enforcement agencies to keep
records showing the ethnicities of the
people they stop -- and why they
stopped them. |
