Bill > S1787

Introduced Session

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 bill requires that any revision to the Statewide use-of-force policy be in furtherance of 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 also 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 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 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. The bill also 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 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) the appropriate role and use of mental health professionals, when available. The bill also clarifies that correctional police officers and investigators in the Department of Corrections have full police powers, as set out in N.J.S.A.2A:154-4. The bill further provides that correctional police officers and investigators include all promotional ranks and positions responsible for overseeing correctional police officers and investigators so long as they have an underlying correctional police officer or investigator title.

AI Summary

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Angela Mcknight (D)*,  Troy Singleton (D)*,  Raj Mukherji (D),  Britnee Timberlake (D), 

Withdrawn Because Approved P.L.2025, c.243. (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document