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Cards of Favor

Courtesy cards given by police unions are raising eyebrows in New Jersey traffic enforcement

By: Ken Serrano
Asbury Park Press
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Despite a damning report by one of New Jersey's investigate agencies about the abuse of police discretion at traffic stops and the unfairness of PBA cards - known for years as "get out of jail free" cards - there have been no sign of official action to end the practice.
..... The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, which investigated the cards and the practice and issued the report in December, [2024] urged the state Legislature to do away with them. that's what Governor Phil Murphy did six years ago when he signed a law that banned handouts of badges to people who are not law enforcement officers.
..... The report asserts the letting motorist off the hook because the present a police "honor card" or drop the name of a law enforcement contract amounts to a "two-tiered system of justice" that is "unethical, discriminatory, and fundamentally unfair."
..... "We released this report because we think it's important that the public, the governor, the attorney general and the colonel of the state police, as well as legislators who are responsible for making our laws, know just how much nepotism and favoritism play a role in policing in New Jersey," acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh said while addressing the media.
..... The report also noted that it makes new Jersey roads less safe.
..... Neither the New Jersey State Police, the focus of the report, nor more than a dozen PBA locals in Monmouth and Ocean counties contacted by the Asbruy Park Press have responded to request for comment.
..... It's hardly the state police alone who engage in the practice. Law enforcement officers all over New Jersey and around the country have a ready store of the Police Benevolent Association cards for friends and family.
..... With more than 31,000 active law enforcement officers in New Jersey as of 2023, plus retired law enforcement officers across the state, the number of courts cards in circulation in New Jersey could reach into the hundreds of thousands, according to the report.

Practice puts officers in a bind

..... One major factor changed the equation of police accepting courtesy cards.
..... Body cameras provide evidence of the practice, which could put officers in a bind, especially those who have chafed at the pressure to accept the cards, said Mike Alcazar, a retired New York Police Department detective, a former hostage negotiator and now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
..... Alcazar called the practice archaic.
..... "I agree with the comptroller. They should just do away with it. It makes the police officer's job harder when they er doing a car stop because they fell like they;re being put in a compromising position," he said. "Race shouldn't come into play. A PBA card shouldn't come int play. I think it;s a good step. There will be less corruption."

'Serious moral hazard'

..... Stuart Green, a distinguished professor of law at Rutgers Law School in Newark who has written extensively about ethics and criminal law, said the practice is problematic from a number of perspectives, such as public safety and trust in the police.
..... "There's this overarching question about corruption, abuse of power and nepotism," Green said. "Why shooed people who are related to police officers or friends of officers be let off easily? this is a perk of being a cop? that y9our wife or your husband can speed with impunity?"
.....Green said police officers should be amply rewarded because of the dangerous work they do. But allowing family members of offices to avoid the consequences of motor vehicle violations creates a temptation for them to speed more or drive more recklessly.
..... "It creates a serious moral hazard," Green said.

Preferential treatment

..... The 35-page report was based on a study of only state troopers. Investigators looked at 50 hours of body-cam footage involving 501 stops that ended without enforcement - neither a ticket nor a warning.
..... In 27% of those stops, troopers gave preferential treatment to drivers and passengers who presented courtesy cards or said they had a relationship with law enforcement officers, the comptroller's report said.
..... In one of the stops, a driver was doing 103 mph.
..... She was let go after telling the trooper he father was a police lieutenant.
..... In another, a driver ht 94 and was "all over the road."
..... One of two troopers on the stop pointed out that the driver had more points than their age. But the stop ended after a passenger handed one of the troopers his "uncle's gold card."
..... Neither the comptroller's office nor anyone else is calling for the end of leniency or police discretion during traffic stops.
..... The data suggested that many more pole than those with cards, contracts or clout have been let go by troopers.
..... If you reverse the numbers, drivers in the 501 stops in the study of the state police who left without a ticket or warning during a traffic stop without offering a PBA card or contact amount to 73% of all stopped motorists.
..... Troopers conducted 6.2 million motor vehicle stops, and more than 1.2 million of those stops, or 20%, ended without enforcement, according to data collected by the state police from January 2009 and May 2021.

No action

..... In response to inquires by the Press, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement that his office is reexamining parts of the report.
....."The New Jersey State Police is tasked with the difficult, dangerous, and sometimes thankless job of keeping the public safe. They are also responsible for enforcing the law fairly and even-handedly.
..... "NO one is above the law," Platkin's statement continued. "Several of the matters discussed in this report are the subject of further review by my office."
..... The attorney general oversees the department of Law and Pubic Safety, under which the division of the New Jersey State police falls.
..... After the report was released, the governor said he was relying on the superintendent of the state police, Colonel Patrick J. Callahan to deal with the concerns raised in the report.
..... Asked in March [2025] whether Murphy would act if Callahan failed to Natalie Hamilton, a spokesperson for Murphy said, "the governor continues to be confident in the leadership of Colonel Pat Callahan."
..... In an earlier message, Hamilton said, "The governor expects our traffic laws to be appropriately and evenly enforced at all times."

State police and PBAs not talking

..... The New Jersey State Police has not respond to the Asbury Park Press about the report. The division's leadership also declined to be interviewed by the comptroller's office during the study and "provided a limited response" to a draft of the report, according to the report.
..... Trying to find law enforcement agencies to defend the practice has been met with silence. The Press contacted more than a dozen PBA locals and the chiefs of police association in Monmouth and ocean counties. Just one local responded but declined to comment.
..... Among the points raised in the comptroller's report are:
* In the study, 87 cards were handed to troopers. Of them 69 came from White driver or passengers, while Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and other drivers showed a combined 18. The U.S. census says 52% of New Jerseyans are counted as non-Hispanic White.
* The discrimination extended to other parts of traffic stops. Troopers conducted computerized lookups of Hispanic or Latino drivers 65% of the time, while looking up White drivers 34% of the time.
..... The division has come under fire before for railcard and ethnic disparities.
..... In 2023, the attorney general released a report showing that Black motorized were 89.8%, and Hispanic motorist were 46.4%, more lily to be searched during stops than White drivers.
..... At the same time, Blake drivers were9.7%, and Hispanic drivers were 26.6%, less likely to have evidence found when searched after a stop than White motorists. The report studied data from 2009 to 2021.
..... "Justice should b equal for everybody across the board, and the presence of a PBA care on your race should play no part in it whatsoever," said Jim Sullivan, deputy policy director for the ACLU-NJ. "the fact that it has gone on for decades now is beyond unacceptable. We need to refocus our traffic stop enforcement with keeping our roads safe, which is a huge problem in New Jersey right now."
..... The two-tiered system: also appears to violate two state Ethics codes and one covering municipal officers, according th the report:
* State Troopers are subject to the Uniform Ethics Code, which sates that "[n]o state officer or employee or special state officer or employee should use or attempt to use his/her official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantage for him/herself or others."
* The Department of Law and Public Safety has a Supplementary code of Ethics that says no officer or employee shall "[P]erform official duties in any manner form which it might be reanalyses inferred that the influence either of a personal relationship or of an unprofessional circumstance caused the officer or employee to act in a biased or partial manner."
* While municipal police are not subject to the state ethics policies, local government ethics law provides that "[n]o local government officer or employee shall use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for himself or others."
..... The Asbury Park Press underscored those ethical codes in messages to the governor, the attorney general and the state police when seeking comment on the repost and what action has been taken since its release
..... Not one addressed the ethical codes.

..... Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigation. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or ksernano@gannettnj.com.

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