Bill > S2542

Introduced Session

This bill concerns the training and oversight of domestic crisis teams established or participated in by law enforcement agencies. Domestic crisis teams may include social workers, clergy, or other persons trained in counseling, crisis intervention, or treating domestic violence victims, or elderly or disabled victims of neglect or abuse. See P.L.1991, c.261, s.4 (C.2C:25-20). The bill would require that response procedures for domestic crisis teams be included in the training course and curriculum on handling, investigating, and responding to reports of domestic violence and abuse and neglect of the elderly and disabled, that was previously prepared, and is revised from time to time as needed, by the State's Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety. With respect to the new response procedures to be developed, the bill would establish greater uniformity for future domestic crisis team responses by requiring that such teams be made available to victims whenever law enforcement responds to any reports of domestic violence and abuse and neglect of the elder and disabled. Currently, there are inconsistencies in how and when the services of domestic crisis teams are made available to victims. Lastly, the bill would strengthen oversight over domestic crisis teams by providing that law enforcement agency actions to (1) establish or participate in a domestic crisis team, and (2) train all individual officers participating in a team, shall be done under the supervision of the State's Division of Criminal Justice. This bill embodies recommendation 9 of the Report of the Supreme Court Ad Hoc Committee on Domestic Violence issued June 2016.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Diane Allen (R)*,  Loretta Weinberg (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 09/26/2016)