That investigation resulted in an agreement by the state to crack down on the singling out of minority motorists for stops and searches.

Wherever the impulse originated, it is illegal to single out minority motorists for stops and searches based solely on their skin color.

While the troopers' lawyers raised suspicions, so did advocates for minority motorists arrested in turnpike stops.

New Jersey Appleseed obtained a court order that reversed a gag order on state troopers who speak out about racial profiling of minority motorists.

Take the volatile issue of racial profiling that showed the State Police had a history of stopping an inordinate number of minority motorists.

Judge Catherine C. Blake found that discrimination against minority motorists had not ended, and ordered that the record-keeping continue for another year.

Those charges are that they falsified their arrest records to conceal what the state calls evidence that they had singled out minority motorists for traffic stops.

(Critics say he was too slow to respond to clear evidence that State Police were unfairly stopping and searching minority motorists, solely because of their race.)

He acknowledged discrimination against minority motorists only when his court nomination was in the balance, and excused himself by saying he had only recently seen the damning evidence.

Troopers Hogan and Kenna were later indicted on charges of falsifying records to conceal evidence that they stopped a disproportionate number of minority motorists.