ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4175

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  OCTOBER 21, 2024

      The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4175 with committee amendments.

      As amended, this bill requires the Attorney General (AG) to review and, if necessary, revise its use of force policy at least every even numbered year or in such shorter time frame as needed.

      The amended bill requires that any revision to the Statewide use of force policy be in furtherance the following core principles: 

      (1)  respecting the sanctity of human life and serving the community;

      (2)  prioritizing other reasonable measures, including de-escalation, that must be attempted before resorting to the use of force;

      (3)  promoting the use of only objectively reasonable, necessary and proportional force, including the use of deadly force only as a last resort; and

      (4)  articulating other duties attendant to the use of force, such as a law enforcement officer’s duty to intervene, to render medical assistance, and to report and review uses of force.

      The bill requires the policy to be transmitted to the chief or director of every municipal and county police department, every municipal and county prosecutor, and the Superintendent of State Police.

      The amended bill requires the AG, upon review of the policy as required by the bill, to hold three public hearings in order to receive feedback from the community.

      Moreover, the amended bill requires the AG to establish and maintain a procedure for reporting incidents involving use of force to the Department of Law and Public Safety, and to compile such information in a publicly accessible website.  Use of force incident information will be subject to the Open Public Records Act.

      Finally, the amended bill requires the AG to issue and revise as needed guidelines and procedures applicable to law enforcement encounters involving a barricaded individual.  Further, the Police Training Commission is required to develop and include barricaded individual training for law enforcement officers.  The amended bill requires that any revisions to the guidelines are in furtherance of the following components and principles:

      (1) situations involving barricaded individuals should be differentiated based on whether they involve a mental health crisis, with appropriate protocols like negotiation and non-lethal options tailored to the situation;

      (2)  initial responding officers are required to account for a barricaded individual’s primary language;

      (3)  law enforcement responses should incorporate crisis intervention, negotiation, and resolution techniques;

      (4)  supervisors and incident commanders are responsible for determining resolution tactics, factoring in input from tactical teams, negotiators, and mental health professionals;

      (5)  proper coordination between incident command systems and tactical teams, with crisis intervention officers responding to deescalate barricaded individual situations; and

      (6)  integration of mental health professionals into tactical and negotiation teams and require the presence of mental health professionals where feasible.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  update the synopsis to read: concerns use of force by law enforcement officers under certain circumstances and requires reporting of use of force incidents;

      (2)  require use of force policy be updated every even numbered year;

      (3)  require any revision of use of force policy be in furtherance of the core principles enumerated in the bill;

      (4)  require the Attorney General to hold town hall meetings when reviewing and revising the use of force policy;

      (5)  direct the Attorney General to establish and maintain a procedure for reporting of use of force incidents and to compile such information on a publicly accessible website;

      (6)  subject use of force data to the Open Public Records Act;

      (7)  require the Attorney General to establish guidelines and procedures for law enforcement responses to barricaded individuals;

      (8)  establish components and principles that the barricaded individual guidelines and procedures must address; and

      (9)  require law enforcement officers receive training developed by the Police Training Commission on barricaded individuals.