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, Assemblyman Caputo, Assemblywomen Murphy, Reynolds-Jackson, Speight and Jasey
SYNOPSIS
Requires Police Training Commission to contract with crisis intervention training center to provide mental health training to police officers and establish curriculum specific to persons experiencing economic crisis or substance use disorder.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on July 27, 2020, with amendments.
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 1shall1:
(1) 1[shall]1 annually contract with 1[the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence] a crisis intervention training center1 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 1[the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence] a crisis intervention training center1 and the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services 1that is1 in operation upon the effective date of this act. Upon the expiration of that contract, any new contract entered into under this paragraph between 1[the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and]1 the Police Training Commission 1and a crisis intervention training center1 shall 1[provide] include1, at a minimum, the same provisions 1[of] that were contained in1 the expired contract1[, originally entered into between the New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence and] executed by1 the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services;
(2) 1[shall]1 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) 1[may]1 develop and implement, in collaboration with the 1[New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence] crisis intervention training center contracted pursuant to the section1, a curriculum 1[applying] that applies1 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.
1[“New Jersey Crisis Intervention Team Center of Excellence”] “Crisis intervention training center”1 means 1[a program of the Mental Health Association in Southwestern New Jersey serving] a program or entity that has operated1 as a 1crisis intervention1 support center 1in the State for a period of at least five years and is contracted, pursuant to subsection a. of this section,1 to assist New Jersey counties in developing and implementing the Crisis Intervention Team model.
2. This act shall take effect 1[immediately] on the first day of the thirteenth month next following the date of enactment1.