Excellence in Policing
In December 2019, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal launched the Excellence in Policing initiative, a sweeping set of policing reforms designed to promote the culture of professionalism, accountability, and transparency that are hallmarks of New Jersey’s best law enforcement agencies. In June 2020, Attorney General Grewal announced the next phase of the initiative, including plans to revise the state’s “Use of Force Policy” for the first time in two decades.
The Use of Force Policy, which applies to all 36,000 state, county, and local law enforcement officers in New Jersey, outlines when an officer may—and may not—use force against a civilian. As part of the revision process, the Attorney General is seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders, including police officers, civil rights organizations, religious leaders, victims’ advocates, youth groups, and community members. To facilitate this effort, the Attorney General is partnering with the state’s County Prosecutors to host listening sessions this summer in all twenty-one of New Jersey’s counties.
Submitting Public Comments
The Attorney General also welcomes input directly from the public. In the form below, please share your thoughts on the state’s current Use of Force Policy and any ideas you have for updating it. Although you may comment on any aspect of the policy and its enforcement, we are particularly interested in your thoughts on the following topics:
- Specific tactics intended to subdue a subject (e.g., chokeholds, neck restraints, strikes to the head and face, use of police dogs)
- Interacting with individuals with serious mental illness or substance abuse issues
- Exhausting all other reasonable means (e.g., verbal warnings) and pursuing de-escalation before resorting to deadly force
- Applying force proportionate to the subject’s alleged conduct (e.g., limiting the use of force when the subject has committed a non-violent offense)
- Less-than-lethal uses of force (e.g., bean bag shots, rubber bullets, disabling netting)
- Duty to intervene when another officer engages in excessive use of force
- Firing a weapon at a moving vehicle
- High-speed car pursuits
- Reporting and training requirements
- Any other proposals that reduce the risk of injury and death to civilians while maintaining the safety of police officers
Please submit your views no later than August 21, 2020. The Attorney General plans to issue a revised statewide policy by the end of 2020.