ASSEMBLY, No. 315
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION
By Assemblywomen BARK and MURPHY
An Act expanding the power, responsibility and duties of the Police Training Commission and amending P.L.1961, c.56 and P.L.1985.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 6 of P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-71) is amended to read as follows:
6. 52:17B-71. The commission is vested with the power, responsibility and duty:
a. To prescribe standards for the approval and continuation of approval of schools at which police training courses authorized by this act and in-service police training courses shall be conducted, including but not limited to presently existing regional, county, municipal and police chief association police training schools or at which basic training courses and in-service training courses shall be conducted for State and county juvenile and adult corrections officers and juvenile detention officers;
b. To approve and issue certificates of approval to such schools, to inspect such schools from time to time, and to revoke any approval or certificate issued to such schools;
c. To prescribe the curriculum, the minimum courses of study, attendance requirements, equipment and facilities, and standards of operation for such schools. Courses of study in crime prevention may be recommended to the Police Training Commission by the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee, established by section 2 of P.L.1985, c.1 (C.52:17B-77.1). The Police Training Commission may prescribe psychological and psychiatric examinations for police recruits while in such schools;
d. To prescribe minimum qualifications for instructors at such schools and to certify, as qualified, instructors for approved police
training schools and to issue appropriate certificates to such instructors;
e. To certify police officers, corrections officers and juvenile detention officers who have satisfactorily completed training programs and to issue appropriate certificates to such police officers, corrections officers and juvenile detention officers;
f. To advise and consent in the appointment of an administrator of police services by the Attorney General pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-73);
g. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1985, c.491.)
h. To make such rules and regulations as may be reasonably necessary or appropriate to accomplish the purposes and objectives of this act;
i. To make a continuous study of police training methods and training methods for corrections officers and juvenile detention officers and to consult and accept the cooperation of any recognized federal or State law enforcement agency or educational institution;
j. To consult and cooperate with universities, colleges and institutes in the State for the development of specialized courses of study for police officers in police science and police administration;
k. To consult and cooperate with other departments and agencies of the State concerned with police training or the training of corrections officers and juvenile detention officers;
l. To participate in unified programs and projects relating to police training and the training of corrections officers and juvenile detention officers sponsored by any federal, State, or other public or private agency;
m. To perform such other acts as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out its functions and duties as set forth in this act;
n. To extend the time limit for satisfactory completion of police training programs or programs for the training of corrections officers and juvenile detention officers upon a finding that health, extraordinary workload or other factors have, singly or in combination, effected a delay in the satisfactory completion of such training program;
o. To furnish approved schools, for inclusion in their regular police training courses and curriculum, with information concerning the advisability of high speed chases, the risk caused thereby, and the benefits resulting therefrom;
p. To review and approve new standards and course curricula developed by the Department of Corrections for both basic and in-service training of State and county corrections officers and juvenile detention officers. These courses for the State corrections officers and juvenile detention officers shall be centrally provided at the Corrections Officers' Training Academy of the Department of Corrections. Courses for the county corrections officers and juvenile detention officers shall also be centrally provided at the Corrections Officers' Training Academy unless an off-grounds training program is established by the county. A county may elect to establish and conduct a basic training program for corrections officers and juvenile detention officers seeking permanent appointment in that county. The Corrections Officers' Training Academy shall develop the curriculum of the basic training program to be conducted by a county.
q. To furnish approved schools and local police departments upon request, for inclusion in their regular police training courses and curriculum, information concerning the handling of domestic violence, sexual harrassment, stalking, and sexual assaults, which shall include: the impact of domestic violence on society, the dynamics of domestic violence, evidence collection and preservation, the statutory and case law, the necessary elements of a protection order, policies and procedures as promulgated or ordered by the Attorney General, and the use of available community resources, support services, available sanctions, and treatment options for victims and perpetrators.
(cf: P.1988, c.176, s.4)
2. Section 2 of P.L.1985, c.1 (C.52:17B-77.1) is amended to read as follows:
2. There is created in the Police Training Commission in the Department of Law and Public Safety a Crime Prevention Advisory Committee comprised of [14] 15 members. The committee shall consist of: the Attorney General, who shall be chairman of the committee, or his designee; the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs or his designee; the Director of the Division on Women, ex officio, or a designee; the Commissioner of the Department of Commerce and Economic Development or his designee; the Commissioner of Education or his designee; the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety; the Superintendent of State Police; a representative of the Police Training Commission; a representative of the New Jersey Crime Prevention Officers' Association; a representative of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police; a representative of the National Crime Prevention Council; and four citizens of the State to be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, one of whom shall represent a public utility company, one of whom shall represent the insurance industry, and one of whom shall represent the banking industry. The four members appointed by the Governor shall serve for terms of three years, except that of the four members initially appointed by the Governor, one shall be appointed for a term of one year, one shall be appointed for a term of two years, and two shall be appointed for terms of three years.
Members shall be eligible for reappointment to the council, and vacancies in the committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments but for the unexpired terms only. The statutory members of the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee who are also statutory voting members of the Police Training Commission shall be nonvoting members of the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee.
The members of the committee shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their duties as required by this act.
(cf: P.L.1985, c.1, s.2)
3. This act shall take effect on the 90th day after enactment.
STATEMENT
It has been clearly demonstrated that women who are abused and who are subjected to long-term physical and emotional abuse do not always act in the same fashion as others might in a given situation or in response to a given provocation. The reason for their decisions is the reason of the survivor, not that of the "reasonable person" so often envisioned by law enforcement personnel when they make their decisions about whether to believe a woman who says she has been abused, about whether she needs protection, or about whether the evidence in her case merits sending the case to the grand jury or letting it drop.
How an incident will be defined, what evidence will or will not be collected, whether a victim will receive needed medical and counselling services depends on whether or not the law enforcement personnel who respond to a call have been trained in the dynamics and issues of violence against women. Although there are may promising developments in the prosecution of domestic violence offenses, there remains a general lack of accountability of batterers by the criminal justice system in most counties. Failure to aggressively prosecute, convict and jail for contempt of civil restraining orders and continued abusive acts thwarts the effectiveness of mandatory arrest and other deterrence measures. It therefore leaves many victims living in terror, unable to secure immediate, effective sanctions for continued abuse.
When stereotypes of victims of domestic violence and other crimes against women form the basis for decisions, perpetrators of violence against women are not prosecuted, victims of domestic violence do not receive needed services, and women victims of violence are generally afraid to call on law enforcement personnel for help. Unfortunately, too few New Jersey police officers and prosecutorial staff have received sufficient, if any training. All police, sheriffs, juvenile detention and adult correctional officers, probation officers and prosecutors need to receive training in domestic violence and sexual assault from experts in the field as part of their basic training and as required in-service training if they are to effectively address the needs of abused women and bring abusers into court.
This bill would vest the Police Training Commission with the power, responsibility and duty to furnish approved schools and local police departments upon request, for inclusion in their regular police training courses and curriculum, information concerning the handling of domestic violence, sexual harrassment, stalking, and sexual assaults.
In addition, the bill would add the Director of the Division on Women as an ex officio member of the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee in the Police Training Commission.
Increases power, responsibility and duty of Police Training Commission; adds new member to Crime Prevention Advisory Committee.