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:
C.52:17B-77.15 Training curriculum to prevent suicide committed by law enforcement officers.
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 five years following the officer’s date of initial appointment.
C.52:17B-77.16 Report of incident of completed suicide by a law enforcement officer.
2. a. The chief law enforcement officer or the chief law enforcement officer’s designee of each State, county, and municipal law enforcement agency and 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.) shall report within a reasonable time to the Office of the Attorney General, in a manner prescribed by the Attorney General, any incident of a completed suicide by a law enforcement officer employed by their respective agency or department. The report shall include:
(1) the month and year during which the law enforcement officer’s death occurred;
(2) the law enforcement officer’s age, salary, and length of service with the law enforcement agency at the time of the officer’s death;
(3) the race and gender of the law enforcement officer;
(4) any known facts pertaining to the cause or method of suicide; and
(5) the veteran status and level of education of the law enforcement officer;
b. The report required pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall not identify the law enforcement officer by name or date of birth.
c. The Attorney General shall aggregate the data provided pursuant to subsection a. of this section, which aggregated data shall be made publicly available for use in suicide prevention and intervention studies.
d. The reporting of a suicide pursuant to this section shall not replace or alter any other requirement of law, professional standard, or obligation that requires the law enforcement agency to evaluate a death or report a suicide.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment.
Approved January 20, 2020.