ASSEMBLY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4515

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  AUGUST 24, 2020

      The Assembly Community Development and Affairs Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4515.

      This bill requires the Attorney General to establish and implement an  electronic data collection and reporting system for tracking incidents of use of force by law enforcement officers in this State. 

      Law enforcement agencies are required by the bill to use a standard reporting form prescribed by the Attorney General to record data describing each incident of use of force by a law enforcement officer.  The data on these forms is to be uploaded to the database through a secure portal. 

      The bill requires the data collection and reporting system to be searchable by law enforcement agencies and members of the public.  The Attorney General is required to develop guidelines to ensure accurate and secure transmission, storage, scrubbing, and analysis of the data in the data collection and reporting system.

      The Attorney General currently is operating a pilot “Police Use of Force Portal” program in six municipalities (Bridgeton, Dover, Linden, Millville, Paterson, and South Brunswick).  The goal is to establish a Statewide, uniform database to aggregate data and compare information across agencies.  Reportedly, the database was to be accessible to all law enforcement agencies by July 1, 2020 and be accessible to the public at a later date.