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For more than a decade, the New Jersey State Police had to answer to a federal monitor after admissions the force engaged in racial profiling on state highways in the late 1990s. That oversight ended in 2009, but "Hidden Behind the Badge," a yearlong investigation by The Star-Ledger's Christopher Baxter, showed many of the State Police's bad habits remain. In a remarkable run of reporting throughout 2012, Baxter exposed actions by troopers that shocked the public, drew national attention, prompted unprecedented shakeups of top brass and spurred new state investigations, suspensions, criminal charges and legislation. He also got the attention of New Jersey's most powerful political leaders by digging into how the State Police operates, showing whistleblowers fear career-killing reprisals for speaking up, proving the promotion system is more subjective than nearly any other in the country and raising questions about training to recognize diabetic shock.