TRENTON — No more troopers escorting exotic sports cars along New Jersey's busy highways at warp speed. No more weaving in and out of traffic, terrorizing other drivers and forcing them aside. No more confusion about who within the State Police has the authority to sign off on escorts.

Those are some of the rules contained in a new confidential State Police policy that aims to crack down on official escorts, following a series of stories that revealed troopers had led two high-speed caravans down Jersey roads in the past two years.

The policy was announced last month by Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa and State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes, but they described it only generally and declined to release it. The Star-Ledger recently obtained a complete copy.

The new document, five pages long as opposed to the two-page previous version, states that all requests for escorts must now be approved by three supervisors, including two top commanders, and those requests will be reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Attorney General’s Office.

Under the previous policy, requests were supposed to be approved by one high-ranking officer. But after the newspaper reports, Fuentes said that, in fact, responsibility for approving escorts rested with troopers at the local level.

Unlike the previous policy, troopers now have specific factors to consider when weighing a request, such as the number of vehicles, number of available personnel and weather conditions. They also have clear guidelines on how they are to safely — and slowly — lead escorts.

But the policy’s strongest message of all is right on page one: "Public safety is paramount."

"All State Police escorts shall be conducted reasonably, responsibly, and in a manner that promotes the safety of the public," the new policy states. "State Police vehicles serve as an example to the motoring public and shall be operated with utmost integrity and professionalism."

Asked to comment about the new policy for this story, Fuentes said in a prepared statement:

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"It takes into consideration best practices and the need to conduct escorts in a safe manner."

The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment.

One thing has not changed, however: Authorities still refuse to make the old policy public, and they are not going to make the new one public either.

They have argued such internal documents could jeopardize operations and trooper safety. But open-records advocates countered that not every policy reveals such sensitive information.

The new policy does not preclude any organization or group, such as luxury sports car enthusiasts, from receiving an escort at the taxpayers’ expense. Instead, it places an emphasis on whether a vehicle or group of vehicles might disrupt traffic and create safety concerns.

The policy specifically allows escorts for government officials and dignitaries, medical emergencies, high-risk prisoner transports, funerals for dignitaries, protected witnesses, explosive and hazardous materials, oversize loads, and other security for a public agency.

Any other requests must not only be approved by three supervisors, but also by the commanding officer in charge of all field operations. The superintendent may also authorize any escorts.

During non-business hours, the policy states approvals rest with the supervising officer of the watch operations unit of the Regional Operations Intelligence Center in Ewing. Supervisors must consider the number and type of vehicles involved, the route and distance, the traffic conditions and weather, the number of State Police vehicles and troopers that would be required and whether any non-State Police resources are available to lead an escort.

Troopers conducting an escort and all vehicles involved must obey all speed limits and traffic laws, stay in one lane, avoid passing lanes, turn on headlights and hazard blinkers, and not use sirens. Escorts may deviate from those rules only if absolutely necessary, the policy said.

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State authorities last month charged two troopers — Sgt. 1st Class Nadir Nassry and Trooper Joseph Ventrella — with concealing their license plates with black electrical tape before escorting a high-speed caravan of sports cars to Atlantic City in March.

They also allege Nassry instructed the other drivers in the caravan to do the same.

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