Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ADAM J. TALIAFERRO
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Assemblywoman SHAVONDA E. SUMTER
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman RAJ MUKHERJI
District 33 (Hudson)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle and Assemblyman Caputo
SYNOPSIS
Requires Police Training Commission to contract with NJ Crisis Intervention Team Center for Excellence to provide mental health training to local police officers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning police training and supplementing chapter 17B of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Police Training Commission in the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety:
(1) shall annually contract with the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence to assist and support counties in developing and implementing the Crisis Intervention Team model. The Police Training Commission shall assume and maintain any existing contract between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services in operation upon the effective date of this act. Upon the expiration of that contract, any new contract entered into under this paragraph between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the Police Training Commission shall provide, at a minimum, the same provisions of the expired contract, originally entered into between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services;
(2) shall require every municipal police officer appointed to a police department and force established pursuant to N.J.S.40A:14-118 and every county police officer appointed to a police department and force pursuant to N.J.S.40A:14-106, within five years of the effective date of this act or by a date determined by the Attorney General, to complete the Crisis Intervention Team model as part of the officer’s in-service training;
(3) may develop and implement, in collaboration with the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence, a curriculum applying the Crisis Intervention Team model to persons experiencing an economic crisis or struggling with a substance abuse disorder who come into contact with law enforcement first responders.
b. The Police Training Commission shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the purposes of this act.
c. As used in this section:
“Crisis
Intervention Team model” means the
best practice jail diversion model originally developed by the Memphis Tennessee
Police Department and implemented in New Jersey as a county based collaboration
of professionals committed to improving the law enforcement and mental health
systems’ response to persons
experiencing a psychiatric crisis who come into contact with law enforcement first responders.
“New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence” means a program of the Mental Health Association in Southwestern New Jersey serving as a support center to assist New Jersey counties in developing and implementing the Crisis Intervention Team model.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Police Training Commission (PTC) to contract with the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center for Excellence to provide mental health training to local police officers.
Specifically, under the bill, the PTC in the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety is required to contract with the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence to assist and support counties in developing and implementing the Crisis Intervention Team model. Under the bill, the “Crisis Intervention Team model” means the best practice jail diversion model originally developed by the Memphis Tennessee Police Department and implemented in New Jersey as a county based collaboration of professionals committed to improving the law enforcement and mental health systems’ response to persons experiencing a psychiatric crisis who come into contact with law enforcement first responders. “New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence” means a program of the Mental Health Association in Southwestern New Jersey serving as a support center to assist New Jersey counties in developing and implementing the Crisis Intervention Team model.
The bill directs the PTC to assume and maintain any existing contract between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) in the Department of Human Services in operation upon the effective date of the bill. Upon the expiration of that contract, any new contract entered into under this bill between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the PTC is to provide, at a minimum, the same provisions of the expired contract, originally entered into between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and the DMHAS.
The bill also directs the PTC to require every municipal and county police officer appointed to a police department and force in this State, within five years of the effective date of this act or by a date determined by the Attorney General, to complete the Crisis Intervention Team model as part of the officer’s in-service training.
Finally, the bill provides that the PTC may develop and implement, in collaboration with the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence, a curriculum applying the Crisis Intervention Team model to persons experiencing an economic crisis or struggling with a substance abuse disorder who come into contact with law enforcement first responders.