Trooper Says Police Avoiding Chases to Avoid Profiling Charges
AP, Sept. 23
HACKENSACK, N.J. — While the state police are being praised for efforts to end racial profiling, one trooper says it comes at a cost: The police are being discouraged from chases “even when the wrongdoers were committing a violation in front of a state trooper.”
In his whistle-blower lawsuit, Sgt. Richard Gacina said state police officials have tried to keep police from performing parts of their job out of fear of racial profiling accusations.
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Gacina, who filed the lawsuit last spring, was disciplined, then exonerated of internal charges that he violated procedures in three pursuits in 2003.
He claims that he has been the subject of petty abuse since then, denied promotion opportunities and has had his mental condition questioned.
His lawyer said that once in 2003, Gacina responded to a call for help from a local police force by joining a chase and was investigated for doing so. “If that’s not de-policing, I don’t know what is,” Reimer said.
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