SENATE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1730

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 18, 2019

      The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1730.

      As amended and reported by the committee, 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.  As amended, the bill requires the in-service training to be administered to each law enforcement officer every five years following the officer’s date of initial appointment.

      The amended bill also requires the chief law enforcement officer of each State, county, and municipal law enforcement agency and campus police department to report within a reasonable time to the Office of the Attorney General any incident of a completed suicide by a law enforcement officer employed by their respective agency or department.  The report is required to include: the month and year during which the law enforcement officer’s death occurred; the law enforcement officer’s age, salary, and length of service with the law enforcement agency at the time of the officer’s death; the race and gender of the law enforcement officer; any known facts pertaining to the cause or method of suicide; and the veteran status and level of education of the law enforcement officer.  The amended bill prohibits the report from identifying the law enforcement officer by name or date of birth. 

      Under the amended bill, the Attorney General is required to aggregate the data and make it publicly available for use in suicide prevention and intervention studies.  The amended bill clarifies that the report is not to 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.

      As reported by the committee, this bill is identical to Assembly Bill No. 1028 (1R), as amended and reported by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on March 7, 2019. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

      The committee amendments:

      1)   reduce from 10 to five the number of years the recurring in-service training is to be administered to each law enforcement officer following the officer’s date of initial appointment; and

      2)   establish reporting requirements for every incident of a completed suicide by a law enforcement officer.