He was clocked at least 94 miles an hour when the New Jersey state troopers finally pulled him over.
“You were all over the road,” they told the driver, who was facing a stack of serious traffic violations.
It was then that a passenger in the car offered a so-called “courtesy card,” often handed out by cops and others in law enforcement to friends, family members and the well-connected that can sometimes serve like a magical talisman.
The troopers returned to their vehicle to check the driver’s credentials and the identification for the passengers. When they returned to the stopped vehicle, one officer told the driver that “you got more points than your age.”
They then told him he was free to go.
No ticket. No warning. And no need to appear in court.
A new investigation by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller found that police courtesy cards — or just knowing a cop — can work wonders in helping motorists facing serious consequences, getting someone out of a real jam with little more than a caution to be more careful the next time.
“Our investigation shows that some people are being given a free pass to violate serious traffic safety laws,” charged Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh. “Law enforcement decisions should never depend on who you know, your family connections, or donations to police unions. Nepotism and favoritism undermine our laws and make our roads more dangerous.”
According to a report by the comptroller, courtesy cards, which are typically distributed by police labor associations and even sold by private companies online, “function as accepted currency” by the New Jersey State Police. Even motorists suspected of dangerous driving offenses were let off the hook as a result of a card, sometimes referred to as “family cards,” “gold cards,” or “PBA cards,” in what appeared to be a widespread abuse of officer discretion.
More than one in four traffic stops by troopers when there was no enforcement action revealed that drivers received preferential treatment when they presented a courtesy card, or mentioned they had a personal relationship with a law enforcement officer or agency, the report found.
Sometimes, the report said, the motorist “boldly handed over a courtesy card,” occasionally in lieu of driving credentials, and the stop ended quickly with the trooper offering some version of “you’re good.”
READ THE COMPTROLLER’S REPORT
The agency said it reviewed 50 hours of body camera footage of non-enforcement stops over a period of ten days — video clips it said that are “rarely, if ever, watched.” What it found, it said, was evidence of a “two-tiered system in which motorists with ties to law enforcement — no matter how tenuous — were given preferential treatment.”
While the focus was on the State Police, the largest law enforcement agency in New Jersey with the authority to enforce traffic laws throughout the Garden State, the courtesy cards that were presented came from municipal police departments, county and state agencies, as well as inter-state and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.
“They all appeared to be equally effective at getting motorists released without enforcement,” said the report, finding that the cards appeared to be the deciding factor in many motor non-enforcement stops. “It appeared that the trooper’s discretion turned solely on the presence of the courtesy card and there were no other reasonable explanations why these stops resulted in no enforcement,” it concluded.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin in a statement said that the State Police were 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,” he said. “Several of the matters discussed in this report are the subject of further review by my office.”
The State Police declined to participate in the investigation, said Walsh. A spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, nor did law enforcement union officials.
The comptroller in his report noted one New Jersey driver was stopped for speeding at an incredible 103 miles per hour. She was released after telling a trooper that her father was a lieutenant. Another, chased down after speeding and driving over the median in a tunnel, was also allowed to go with a warning after citing a friendship with a law enforcement officer.
The cards are not unique to New Jersey. Earlier this year, a New York Police Department officer from Staten Island reached a $175,000 settlement with the city in a lawsuit alleging punishment from superiors for failing to acknowledge courtesy cards flashed during traffic stops. While not officially recognized by the NYPD, the cards are viewed as a perk of the profession.
Most of the drivers in New Jersey given favored treatment because of courtesy cards, or claiming personal relationships with law enforcement, were often white, said the comptroller. Indeed, it said white and Asian drivers were less likely to have all three of their driving credentials requested and verified when compared to Black and Hispanic drivers, who were “generally subjected to a more thorough computerized lookup.” Troopers conducted computerized lookups of Hispanic drivers 65% of the time, while looking up white drivers only 34%, the comptroller said.
The State Police are already under increased scrutiny. Earlier in the year, the comptroller issued a separate report that found the agency knew for years that its own records of traffic stops on New Jersey roads showed that people of color were being treated differently than others when they were pulled over. Yet the top brass did nothing about it. Last week, meanwhile, the state’s attorney general appointed a special counsel to investigate allegations of a deliberate and unprecedented months-long traffic enforcement slowdown by New Jersey State Police last year, allegedly in response to critical reports that found racial bias by troopers.
The new investigation by the comptroller involved a review of some 500 “non-enforcement stops” by the State Police. Half involved speeding infractions, many for more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. In three stops, drivers faced charges of reckless or careless driving, and had also admitted to drinking alcohol. Yet they were all released without being asked to step out of the car for a field sobriety test.
The watchdog’s report noted that law enforcement officers have a significant amount of discretion in enforcing the state’s motor vehicle laws. But the comptroller said they must enforce those laws in “a fair and equitable manner,” and are also required to obey those same laws themselves.
In a video released with the report, clips from one trooper’s dash cam and body camera documented one of the stops. The image showed the officers chasing after a southbound SUV on the Garden State Parkway near Exit 159 in Saddle Brook as it weaved back and forth across lanes at night in traffic.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?” asked one of the troopers when they caught up with the guy.
“No sir,” replied the driver, whose face and identity were obscured in the video as he pulled out his license, registration and proof of insurance, along with a gold courtesy card. “My apologies,” he said.
“Who’s this?” asked the trooper, noting the name of another officer printed on the card.
“He’s my best friend,” the driver replied.
“What are you doing driving like that?” demanded the second trooper. “You had us thinking this car’s stolen.”
The first trooper interjected: “Do you realize we were behind you probably for, like, five miles and I was going 90 behind you. Listen, I’m not trying to be a dick to you, right. You’re putting your life at risk. I’m chasing you, putting my life at risk, driving like that!”
Again, the driver apologized. Then in response to questioning about where he had been coming from, he admitted he had a couple of drinks.
On the video, the troopers returned to their vehicle to run the plates and tried unsuccessfully to reach the officer whose name was on the courtesy card. Then they made a decision to clear out the stop without any charges.
“I’ll give this guy a nice talking to,” one tells his partner.
Back at the stopped SUV, the trooper, whose identity and face was also obscured, returned the driver’s license and registration.
“I’m going to be straight up with you, man. I don’t give a crap whose gold card this is, alright?” he said sternly, handing it back to the driver. But he added: “If you didn’t have this, we’d be going a whole different way.”
And then he let him go.
“Get out of here,” he ordered. “Don’t let me catch you on my highway again. Because then I’m actually hammering you out.”
The comptroller urged Attorney General Matthew Platkin to consider requiring law enforcement leadership across the state to monitor when “preferential treatment is given to motorists for improper reasons” and to evaluate any resulting racial and ethnic disparities.
He also called for an end to courtesy cards, with the issuance of a directive explicitly prohibiting law enforcement officers from considering a motorist’s familial or social relationship with a law enforcement officer, or any cards or police shields intended to influence an officer’s decision about how vigorously to enforce violations of the law.
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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TedShermanSL.