NAACP state leaders are now calling for the resignation of state Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan, after the attorney general released a pair of scathing reports uncovering systematic racism, gender bias, favoritism and retaliation for anyone who reported any misconduct.

The office is recommending more than two dozen reforms, including disclosing complaints made against senior officers in the state police.

But will those reforms be enough to reverse longstanding systemic issues?

To discuss more, I'm joined by senior writer and projects editor Colleen O'Dea.

So, Colleen, thanks for joining me.

Thanks for having pretty much the state police needs to do a better job at hiring women and people of color.

And according to your report, it was really promote options when we thought about that discrimination issue.

Right, right.

Individuals who were spoken to for the the study that was done by this law firm really said, if they were, you know, people of color and women that they just they felt discriminated against, they felt like, there are things like transfers are used to take you either out of, the position of getting promoted or it to let somebody else get promoted above you, typically a white male.

So they felt like there was a lot of that kind of stuff happening.

And there were also feelings of not being able to report issues, because you might be retaliated against.

So, we spoke a little off camera about this.

Superintendent Callahan has been in that position since 2017.

So, is this something that has been going on for quite some time under his watch?

It's been going on for decades.

It's go way predates him.

But it's.

But obviously, this report shows that it has been continuing.

I mean, there have been lawsuits that have been, you know, pending for for decades.

This is not new.

This is not new at all.

In fact, there were some reforms that were put in around 2000, which was roughly the same time that we had an issue with police profiling motorists.

So that was a federal Justice Department investigation.

But there was a parallel track involving lawsuits of troopers, again, saying these same kinds of things that they were being discriminated against, they were being retaliated against.

So this is a long standing problem, and we know that the office is now recommending more than two dozen changes.

Can we talk about the most drastic changes?

And then my question is, is this enough to change the culture?

I mean, it's so certainly I think the most drastic one is that the attorney General's office is going to absorb all of the Human Resources and Equal Opportunity office, functions from the state police, because they just don't have the confidence that, that, that, those those functions have been, you know, progressing properly under the state police watch.

So, you know, we'll see if that makes a difference.

I mean, when you when you get to culture issues, I think that they take a really long time to put through.

I would look towards the Edna Mahan women's prison and just tell you that, you know, that's under a federal monitor at the moment because of these they're they're different issues because there's there was sexual abuse and sexual assaults there.

But, it's this culture that takes a long time to change.

And, and one of the things that really I think does help to change it are changes in personnel, particularly personnel, you know, in, in higher levels, who, you know, make a commitment to putting these changes through because we know that starts from the top, you know.

And so I guess my next question is can will we see resignations and will Superintendent Callahan step down.

So I was surprised when I read the reports that that no one was calling for him to step down.

He does have Governor Murphy's confidence, but the governor has said that, we'll see the legislature is really kind of still kicking back into gear if we do hear any lawmakers calling for it.

I mean, I think one of the reasons that perhaps he is still in his position right now is because he has agreed to go along with every reform that was suggested.

He does also have the support of at least some of the troopers of color.

So, you know, we'll have to wait and see what happens as time goes on.

But I would think that things are going to need to change.

Or, you know, we might see him go.

Colin will definitely look for those changes.

Thank you again for excellent reporting.

Thank you for having me.

Raven.