Bill Text: NJ S1676 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires civilian employees of DOC to be trained in gang awareness.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-05 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S1676 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S1676-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JEFF VAN DREW
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Requires civilian employees of DOC to be trained in gang awareness.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring gang awareness training for civilian employees of the Department of Corrections and supplementing P.L.1976, c.98 (C.30:1B-6).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Corrections shall institute a program to annually provide at least four hours of gang awareness training to each civilian employee of an institution within the jurisdiction of the department.
b. The training required in subsection a. of this section shall be in addition to any other training required for these employees.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment, but the commissioner may take such anticipatory action prior to the effective date as needed to effectuate the act's provisions.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections to institute a program to annually provide at least four hours of gang awareness training to each civilian employee in an institution within the jurisdiction of the department. This training would be in addition to any other training that these civilian employees are already required to receive.
It is important that civilian staff who regularly work with inmates, such as teachers and social workers, be informed about gangs so that they are alert to the signs of gang membership. Such training results in these employees confidently and accurately reporting their observations concerning gang membership to their superiors, corrections officers, and gang investigators.
This bill implements recommendation 2 of the Assembly Prison Gang Violence Task Force which issued its final report on December 12, 2006.
