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Brian Lehrer on WNYC, new study commissioned by the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew

Plattkin's office of six million traffic stops by state police from 2009 to 2021 found

quote, strong empirical evidence that NJSP, the New Jersey State Police, is engaged in enforcement

practices that result in adverse treatment towards minority motorists, unquote. With us to talk

about the study findings and how the Attorney General plans to address them and the checkered

history of the State Police Department on issues of race, because this is not new, were joined by

Arya Sundaram, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering race and justice. And the Reverend

Dr. Charles Boyer, pastor of Greater Mount Zion, AME Church in Trenton, and founder of the faith

rooted organization, salvation and social justice. And he is a member of the Public Safety

Innovation Working Group, put together by New Jersey Attorney General Plattkin. Hi, Arya,

welcome back to the show. Reverend Boyer, welcome. Thanks Brian. Thank you. Thank you, Brian.

Arya, take us a little further into this. What kinds of discrepancies did the research find in

the traffic stop data comparing by race? Sure. So according to this study, which was an analysis of

over six million New Jersey State Police traffic stops between 2009 and 2021, so state troopers

were found to be more likely to stop, but also search, arrest and use force against black and Latino

drivers. And to give you a little taste of what this looked like, they found that when the

sun was out and so skin color was more visible, that black drivers were 9% more likely. And Latino

drivers were 16% more likely to be stopped compared to white drivers. And the share of black

lentipot drivers has increased over the years to nearly half of all drivers stopped in 2021.

Reverend Boyer, listening to that answer, this data goes back to 2009 and issues with the state

police. I don't have to tell you, go back much further, a judge ruled back in 1996. And I know

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