Are we to view this as a price we pay for freedom, or was it
political correctness gone wild? Interesting topic. Please read:
Turnpike weapons seizures have plummeted since profiling scandal
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/15/07
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWARK State police are making far fewer gun-related arrests on
the New Jersey Turnpike than they did a decade ago, according to a
published report.
Last year, troopers made 17 gun-related arrests on the Turnpike, a
drop of 91 percent from 1995. They seized 15 guns, or 87 percent
fewer than in 1995.
Law enforcement authorities say it is difficult to draw a direct
connection between the decrease in gun-related arrests on the
roadway and the spike in gun violence in cities such as Newark.
Some feel it is not that big a stretch.
"There is no way a reasonable person could not connect the dots
between what's going on the highway and what's going in these
communities,'' David Jones, president of the State Troopers
Fraternal Association, told the newspaper. "These are not separate
circumstances.''
The decline is attributed to a change in state police strategy on
roadside searches, spurred by a state investigation into the
practice of pulling over cars and making random searches for
weapons. The 1999 probe found that troopers were stopping drivers
based on their skin color.
State police were put under federal oversight and forced to change
their tactics.
"The numbers went down because we ended the program of random
interdiction as a law enforcement tool,'' said former Attorney
General John Farmer, who helped institute the reforms. "The tactic
had seen some success, but when weighed against the alienation of
the minority community, it was not effective, and law enforcement
had to get better.''
Since the racial profiling controversy, state police have focused
more on working with police in cities such as Newark, Irvington and
Camden where smugglers transport guns in large numbers. Last year,
authorities in those cities seized 114 firearms, up from 86 in 2005.
"The bottom line is that over the last seven years we've adopted a
different playbook and different rules of engagement,'' State Police
Superintendent Rick Fuentes said. "I would much rather go after the
sources or the supply of weapons than to engage in some gut-
wrenching searches for these weapons. That's the more prudent way to
do it.''
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