ASSEMBLY, No. 690

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman ZISA

An Act to require cultural diversity training for police officers and supplementing chapter 17B of Title 52 of the New Jersey Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. The Division of Criminal Justice, in the Department of Law and Public Safety, in conjunction with the Police Training Commission shall develop and approve a comprehensive cultural diversity training program. This training program shall be reviewed every two years and modified by the Division of Criminal Justice from time to time as need may require. The Attorney General shall be responsible for ensuring that police officers throughout the State receive cultural diversity training.

    b. Every school approved and authorized by the Police Training Commission to give a police training course shall include in the curriculum a comprehensive program of cultural diversity as prescribed and approved by the Attorney General.

    c. Every municipality and county shall require that any person who is appointed a police officer or who exercises the powers or duties of a police officer receive cultural diversity training pursuant to a program prescribed and approved by the Attorney General.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    The Report of the Commission on Racism, Racial Violence and Religious Violence recommends cultural diversity training for veteran police officers and increased training in cultural diversity for police recruits. This bill would require the Division of Criminal Justice, in the Department of Law and Public Safety, in conjunction with the Police Training Commission to develop a comprehensive cultural diversity training program for every police officer throughout the State. The bill also requires the Division of Criminal Justice to review the training program every two years and permits modification of the program as needed.

    The bill further requires that every police training academy include in the police training curriculum a program of cultural diversity.

Requires cultural diversity training for all police officers; requires the Division of Criminal Justice to create a cultural diversity program.