Customer Reviews

Turnpike Trooper: Racial Profiling & the New Jersey State Police

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In the book Hogan gives the reader a peek into the storied world of the New Jersey State Police. It took the author years to get his badge, and seconds to lose it. No one can really know what happened that fateful night, but after reading this book you'll come away with a feeling that all was not entirely as the press-or the government-led us to believe.

Trooper Hogan gives an inside look into the NJ State Police and the circus-like atmosphere that erupted following the shooting which occurred in the midst of allegations of racial profiling. None of us can know exactly what went down that fateful night, but there is no question that Troopers Hogan and Kenna became pawns in a political dance and power struggle between the Governor and State Attorney General, and the usual cast of well-known, frequently televised, race-baiters.

Part of the reason the whole racial profiling mess came to such a head was the NJSP themselves, who, as a result of their staunch paramilitary training and macho lone-wolf culture, have always had trouble differentiating between pure elitism and esprit de corps. Hogan gives some insight into this culture. He also gives insight and replays for us the despicable actions taken against Kenna and himself during the political firestorm.

Kenna and Hogan may very well have been wrong, have violated standard operating procedures and have been deserving of discipline, but most thinking people can agree that the State's attempt to prosecute two uniformed police officers for attempted murder was ludicrous and frightening.

This book gives readers an inside perspective on just how powerful and self serving politicians in New Jersey can be toward those tragic incidents that can easily occur in the dangers of law enforcement. Racial profiling was a hot topic in the mid to late 90's that changed police work through-out the entire country. This book gives you a front seat perspective on the two New Jersey State Troopers who were at the center of that very political issue and how they were used in an attempt to further the careers of not only the Governor of New Jersey at that time, Christie Todd Whitman, but also a young Attorney General, Peter Verniero.

The book details the human side of the story, as told by John Hogan, one of the two troopers involved in the very public and now historical April 23, 1998 shooting of four black, unarmed motorists, on the New Jersey Turnpike. The New Jersey Turnpike, which is well know in the law enforcement community to be a main corridor for drug carriers, was targeted in the late 80s and 90s as a "hot bed" for drug interdiction. While the issue of racial profiling has taken its toll on drug interdiction, the truth of the matter is that politicians in New Jersey were very supportive of the New Jersey State Police when this drug interdiction served them well. However, as political views changed and the need for urban votes, for the future ambitions of those in office at the time of this incident, the New Jersey State Police and specifically these two troopers became the instrument. What really happen that night was a tragic chain of events that had nothing to do with profiling, but the dangers that were and still are faced by Jersey Troopers everyday on the Turnpike and other roads in New Jersey.

The stories told in this book will give readers another perspective on this topic and shed some much needed light on the backdoor dealings that took place during this dark period of time in New Jersey State Police, and law enforcement in general not only here in New Jersey, but through-out the entire country.

Those troopers got what they deserved. I am glad that everyone saw those troopers real colors. They should be underneath the jail. I guarantee that those troopers would not have stopped that car if it were all white boys driving. I would never buy this racist book.