Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Weinberg and Turner
SYNOPSIS
Requires correctional police officers to wear body worn cameras.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning correctional police officers and body worn cameras and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Commissioner of Corrections shall require all correctional police officers in every correctional facility in this State to wear a body worn camera while the officer is acting in the performance of the officer’s duties.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires all correctional police officers employed in a correctional facility in this State to wear a body worn camera (BWC) while the officer is acting in the performance of the officer’s duties.
According to the sponsor, it is beneficial to both the correctional police officers and the inmates when officers utilize body worn cameras (BWCs) in the violent, high stress environment of a correctional facility. The use of BWCs results in deescalating potentially violent situations, dissuades inmates from assaulting officers due to the threat of prosecution based on BWC video, reduces the need for staff use of force, filters allegations from prisoners, and provides reliable evidence in legitimate cases.