ASSEMBLY, No. 1028

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  GORDON M. JOHNSON

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblywoman  NANCY J. PINKIN

District 18 (Middlesex)

Assemblywoman  PAMELA R. LAMPITT

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Verrelli

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes training program to prevent suicide by law enforcement officer.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning police training and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    a. The Department of Law and Public Safety, in consultation with the Department of Human Services, shall establish a training curriculum designed to prevent suicide committed by law enforcement officers.  The issues addressed in the training curriculum shall include, but not be limited to, the causes, behaviors, warning signs, and risk factors associated with officer suicide.  In addition, the training curriculum shall:

     1) identify appropriate intervention strategies to be used by law enforcement departments to effectively prevent officer suicide; and

     2) provide information concerning programs that offer crisis intervention and counseling services to law enforcement officers. 

      b.   The training curriculum established pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be made available to each State, county, and municipal law enforcement department and each campus police department at an institution of higher education that appoints law enforcement officers pursuant to P.L.1970, c.211 (C.18A:6-4.2 et seq.) to be used as part of in-service training provided to each law enforcement officer in this State.  The in-service training shall be administered to each law enforcement officer once every 10 years following the officer’s date of initial appointment. 

     2.    This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment.

STATEMENT

     This bill requires the Department of Law and Public Safety (DLPS), in consultation with the Department of Human Services, to establish a training curriculum designed to prevent suicide committed by law enforcement officers.  The issues addressed in the training curriculum are to include the causes, behaviors, warning signs, and risk factors associated with officer suicide.  In addition, the bill requires the training curriculum to: 1) identify appropriate intervention strategies to be used by law enforcement departments to effectively prevent officer suicide, and 2) provide information concerning programs that offer crisis intervention and counseling services to law enforcement officers. 

     Under the bill, DLPS is required to make the curriculum available to each State, county, municipal, and college campus law enforcement department to be used as part of in-service training for
law enforcement officers.  The bill requires the in-service training to be administered to each law enforcement officer every 10 years following the officer’s date of initial appointment.