Lawyers: Demoting Wyckoff Police Chief For Racial Profiling Email Unfair

WYCKOFF, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The lawyer for a New Jersey police chief facing demotion for sending an email advocating racial profiling says the punishment is "exceptionally inappropriate'' and that the town is "pandering to the ultra-liberal''

Wyckoff officials initiated the action against Police Chief Benjamin Fox after a prosecutor on Tuesday found the chief's 2014 email "explicitly'' violated a state directive prohibiting racial profiling. Fox's email said profiling has its place in law enforcement if done correctly.

Fox's attorneys said they plan to "pursue all legal avenues available'' to challenge the punishment, which some observers say isn't severe enough.

Ed Barocas, the legal director of the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Fox should be fired.

"There is simply no place in New Jersey or anywhere else for racial profiling or bigoted policing, and Chief Fox should be fired," Barocas said in a statement. "Wyckoff now has a duty to fire Chief Fox and send a message that anyone who believes racial profiling has a place in law enforcement should not have any position in a New Jersey police department. Period."

Fox's attorneys accused the ACLU and the township committee of having it in for Fox, The Record newspaper reported.

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