Police Still Profiling Minorities

Wednesday, January 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) â€” Minorities made up a larger percentage of those stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike but a smaller proportion of arrests, according to new figures to be released under terms of a federal consent decree to end racial profiling.

The data shows that 40 percent of motorists stopped from May 1 to Oct. 31 were black, Hispanic or of another minority group, up from 38 percent in the previous four-month period, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Wednesday's editions.

But minorities accounted for 60 percent of turnpike arrests, down from 63 percent, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the report.

``The numbers are a little disparate,'' said David Jones, vice president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association.

State Police Superintendent Col. Carson Dunbar and Attorney General John Farmer Jr. declined to comment.

It was the second release of data prepared for federal monitors reporting to U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper. Cooper is overseeing a legal settlement reached in December 1999 between the state and the U.S. Justice Department to avoid a federal civil-rights lawsuit.

The monitors were also expected to issue a quarterly report Wednesday assessing the state's work. That report, the Star-Ledger said, will show steady progress, particularly on police training.

â€”â€”â€”

On the Net:

New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety: http://www.state.nj.us/lps/monitorsâ€”report.htm