Bill Text: NJ S401 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Requires law enforcement agencies in this State to establish minority recruitment and selection programs; establishes reporting requirement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-30 - Substituted by A2394 (1R) [S401 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S401-Amended.html
SENATE, No. 401
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Senator SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM
District 31 (Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Rice and Pou
SYNOPSIS
Requires law enforcement agencies in this State to establish minority recruitment and selection programs; establishes reporting requirement.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee on July 28, 2020, with amendments.
An Act requiring State, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies to establish minority recruitment and selection programs and supplementing Title 52 of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. For the purposes of this act:
"Law enforcement agency" means a department, division, bureau, commission, board, or other authority of the State or of any political subdivision thereof which has by statute or ordinance the responsibility of detecting and enforcing the general criminal laws of this State.
"Law enforcement officer" means any person who is employed as a permanent full-time member of an enforcement agency, who is statutorily empowered to act for the detection, investigation, arrest, and conviction of persons violating the criminal laws of this State and statutorily required to successfully complete a training course approved, or certified as being substantially equivalent to an approved course, by the Police Training Commission pursuant to P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-66 et seq.).
2. a. Each law enforcement agency in this State shall establish a minority recruitment and selection program in accordance with guidelines established by the Attorney General pursuant to section 4 of this act. The program shall 1[ensure that] seek to remedy past discrimination in furtherance of the goal of1 the agency 1[is] being1 comprised of law enforcement officers who reflect the diversity of the population of the community the agency is charged with protecting 1[by:
(1) setting] . In implementing the program, the law enforcement agency shall make a good faith effort to meet1 specific goals for recruiting and hiring minorities and females1[;
(2) establishing] within established1 time frames 1[for meeting these goals;
(3) describing] . The program shall include1 methods of evaluating whether these goals are met 1[;]1 and
1[(4) setting forth corrective action] provide for additional contingent measures1 to be taken if the 1[agency] program1 fails to meet 1[these] its specific1 goals.
b. The minority recruitment and selection program established pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be posted on the official Internet website of each law enforcement agency.
c. The county prosecutor shall monitor the results of the minority recruitment and selection programs established by county and municipal law enforcement agencies within the jurisdiction of the prosecutor as required in subsection a. of this section. The county prosecutor shall annually report this information to the Attorney General.
d. The Attorney General shall monitor the results of the minority recruitment and selection 1[programs] program1 established by the Division of State Police and 1, in consultation with the respective commissioner of any other State department that maintains a law enforcement agency, the programs established by1 other State law enforcement agencies as required in subsection a. of this section.
e. The Attorney General shall annually report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 1[(C:52:14-19.1)] (C.52:14-19.1)1, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly a summary of the results obtained pursuant to subsection d. of this section and the results reported by the county prosecutors pursuant to subsection c. of this section. The Attorney General also shall post this summary on the official Internet website of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
3. a. Each State law enforcement agency, including the Division of State Police, shall annually submit to the Attorney General and each municipal and county law enforcement agency in this State shall annually submit to the county prosecutor with jurisdiction over the agency a report containing:
(1) the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of the law enforcement officers currently appointed to the law enforcement agency;
(2) the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of applicants for a law enforcement officer position in the preceding calendar year;
(3) the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of applicants appointed to the agency in the preceding calendar year;
(4) the reasons for denying applicants an appointment to the law enforcement agency; and
(5) the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of each law enforcement officer promoted within the agency in the preceding calendar year, including the position to which the officer was promoted.
b. Each municipal law enforcement agency shall publish in the agency's annual report the information required by subsection a. of this section.
c. Each county prosecutor shall publish in the county prosecutor's annual report the information required by subsection a. of this section for each county law enforcement agency within the jurisdiction of the county prosecutor.
d. Each State law enforcement agency shall publish in the agency's annual report the information required by subsection a. of this section.
e. The county prosecutor shall forward the information required in subsection a. of this section to the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall collect, gather, assemble, and collate the information required in subsection a. of this section into an annual report to be issued to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C:52:14-19.1), to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly.
f. The Attorney General shall post on the official Internet website of the Department of Law and Public Safety each annual report required by subsection e. of this section.
4. The Attorney General shall develop for dissemination to law enforcement agencies and county prosecutors throughout this State those guidelines or directives deemed necessary or appropriate to ensure the uniform application of this act.
5. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment.
