LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE
ASSEMBLY, No. 5039
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
DATED: MAY 20, 2021
SUMMARY
|
Synopsis: |
Requires correctional police officers to wear body worn cameras. |
|
Types of Impact: |
Annual State and county expenditure increases. |
|
Agencies Affected: |
Department of Corrections, Juvenile Justice Commission, and Counties. |
|
Office of Legislative Services Estimate |
|||
|
Fiscal Impact |
Year 1 |
Annually Thereafter |
|
|
State Expenditure Increase |
$8,200,000 to $10,100,000 |
$4,200,000 to $5,200,000 |
|
|
County Expenditure Increase |
$3,600,000 to $4,400,000 |
$1,900,000 to $2,300,000 |
|
|
|
|
||
· The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) projects the costs to the State and county governments of outfitting all correctional police officers with body-worn cameras based on a Department of Corrections estimate.
· Within State government, the body-worn camera requirement would apply to the Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice Commission. The department responded to an FY 2022 OLS Discussion Point that it would require $26.0 million for a five-year contract to outfit all of its corrections officers with body-worn cameras. Some $8.6 million would be needed in the first year for the purchase of equipment and licenses and $4.4 million for each remaining year for license maintenance.
· The OLS assumes that the body-worn camera requirement would be an enforceable unfunded mandate with respect to county jails under the New Jersey State Constitution.
BILL DESCRIPTION
This bill would
require all correctional police officers in the State to wear a body-worn
camera while performing their duties.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
The Executive has not provided a formal fiscal note on this bill. However, the Department of Corrections responded to an FY 2022 OLS Discussion Point that it had purchased 200 body-worn cameras for deployment at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women at an estimated cost of $250,000.
Moreover, the department would need an additional $26.0 million over a five-year period to contract with the current vendor for a five-year basic program for all officers to be outfitted with such cameras. Specifically, some $8.6 million would be needed in the first year for the purchase of equipment and licenses and $4.4 million for each remaining year for license maintenance.
OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The OLS estimates that State expenditures would grow by $8.2 million to $10.1 million in the year in which the body-worn camera program would be implemented for all correctional officers in State correctional facilities and by $4.2 million to $5.2 million in each year thereafter.
The OLS projects further that county expenditures would total $3.6 million to $4.4 million in the year in which the body-worn camera program would be implemented for all correctional officers in county jails and by $1.9 million to $2.3 million in each year thereafter.
These estimates are predicated on the cost projection the Department of Corrections provided in reply to an FY 2022 OLS Discussion Point, as described in the section above. The department based its projection on its current contract for equipping a limited number of correctional officers with body-worn cameras. As a caveat, the OLS notes that other contractual arrangements are conceivable with different costs for equipment, license fees, and other miscellaneous expenses.
The OLS estimate is based on the following variables and assumptions:
(a) According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of May 2020, there were 9,740 correctional officers and jailers in New Jersey, who the OLS estimates were allocated as follows among State, county, and federal correctional facilities:
|
Facility Type |
Number of Officers |
Source |
|
State |
5,740 |
Funded positions in FY 2022 Governor’s Budget in Institutional Control and Supervision program class for Department of Corrections and Juvenile Justice Commission. |
|
County |
2,530 |
Residual after subtracting the number of State and federal correctional officers from 9,740 total positions. |
|
Federal |
1,470 |
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, two federal correctional facilities house 3,725 inmates in New Jersey. That is 27.3 percent of the number of State inmates in FY 2020. Assuming that federal prisons have a staff-to-inmate ratio identical to New Jersey’s, an estimated 1,470 correctional officers would be employed in federal facilities. |
|
TOTAL |
9,740 |
|
(b) The Department of Corrections cost estimate yields a per-officer cost of $1,594 in the first year of equipping officers with cameras and $816 in each subsequent year for maintenance and license fees ($8.6 million in initial-year costs and $4.4 million in subsequent annual cost divided by 5,394 funded positions in the department’s Institutional Control and Supervision program class);
(c) For the State cost estimate, the OLS multiplies the per-capita amounts calculated in b) by the 5,740 funded FY 2022 positions in the Institutional Control and Supervision program class in the Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Justice Commission to arrive at $9.2 million in initial-year costs and $4.7 million in annual costs thereafter;
(d) For the county cost estimate, the OLS multiplies the per-capita amounts calculated in b) by the estimated number of correctional officers employed by county jails (2,530) to arrive at $4.0 million in initial-year costs and $2.1 million in annual costs thereafter; and
(e) Accounting for uncertainty as to the number of correctional officers who may already be outfitted with body-worn cameras and the possibility of different contractual arrangements to operate body-worn camera programs, the OLS determines a range of potential costs attributable to the bill whose lower bound equals 90 percent of the estimated amounts and whose upper bound equals 110 percent thereof.
County Impacts:
The OLS assumes that the body-worn camera requirement would be an enforceable unfunded mandate with respect to county jails under the New Jersey State Constitution.
The OLS does not have sufficient information on the number of county corrections officers who would need to be equipped with body-worn cameras, which adds an element of uncertainty to the cost estimate. Some counties are already using body-worn cameras in their jails. For example, according to a November 2019 press release by the Burlington County Freeholder Board, the Board approved the purchase of 45 body-worn cameras for the Burlington County Department of Corrections. According to some estimates, at a cost of $53,469. The Cape May County Sheriff’s Office website also states that its uniformed officers utilize such cameras in law enforcement and correctional divisions.
General Background:
According to a 2014 report by the Police Executive Research Forum entitled “Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program Recommendations and Lessons Learned,” the price of a body-worn camera ranged from approximately $120 to nearly $2,000. Prices varied depending on factors such as functionality, storage, capacity, and battery life. Agencies generally made an initial purchase upfront, and often purchased cameras as part of a contract with a manufacturer for related services, such as data storage and technical assistance. The report found that many police executives attributed the most expensive aspect of a body-worn camera program to data storage along with other ongoing expenses such as staffing commitments.
|
Section: |
Judiciary |
|
Analyst: |
Associate Fiscal Analyst |
|
Approved: |
Thomas Koenig Legislative Budget and Finance Officer |
This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.
This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).