ASSEMBLY, No. 1856
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED MAY 2, 1996
By Assemblymen BLEE, T. SMITH and LeFevre
An Act establishing a grant program to provide body vests for certain law enforcement officers, supplementing chapter 17B of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes and amending R.S.39:5-41.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) There is created in the Department of Law and Public Safety a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as the "Body Armor Replacement" fund. This fund shall be the repository for moneys provided pursuant to subsection d. of R.S.39:5-41 and shall be administered by the Attorney General. Moneys deposited in the fund, and any interest earned thereon, shall be used exclusively for the purpose of making grants to local law enforcement agencies for the purchase of body vests for the law enforcement officers of those agencies.
The grant program shall be designed to effectuate a five-year vest replacement cycle, to the extent practicable, for local law enforcement officers. The Attorney General shall provide for the distribution of the initial grants in a manner which is conducive to establishing a balance among the number of local law enforcement officers who are eligible for vest replacement grants in each year of the five year cycle.
The Attorney General shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement this grant program. Those rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited to, application procedures for local law enforcement agencies seeking vest replacement grants; criteria , such as crime rates and the age and condition of the body vests currently utilized by a local law enforcement agency's officers, to prioritize the awarding of grants; and guidelines identifying those body vests, by manufacturer or brand name, which may be purchased with grant moneys.
As used in this section, "body vest" means bullet resistant body armor which is intended to provide ballistic and trauma protection.
2. R.S.39:5-41 is amended to read as follows:
39:5-41. a. All fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of R.S.39:4-63 and R.S.39:4-64 shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid to the proper financial officer of the municipality wherein the violation occurred, to be used by the municipality to help finance litter control activities in addition to or supplementing existing litter pickup and removal activities in the municipality.
b. Except as otherwise provided by subsection a. of this section, all fines, penalties and forfeitures imposed and collected under authority of law for any violations of the provisions of this Title, other than those violations in which the complainant is the director, a member of his staff, a member of the State Police, an inspector of the Board of Public Utilities, or a law enforcement officer of any other State agency, shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same have been paid as follows: one-half of the total amount collected to the financial officer, as designated by the local governing body, of the respective municipalities wherein the violations occurred, to be used by the municipality for general municipal use and to defray the cost of operating the municipal court; and one-half of the total amount collected to the proper financial officer of the county wherein they were collected, to be used by the county as a fund for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads and bridges, snow removal, the acquisition and purchase of rights-of-way, and the purchase, replacement and repair of equipment for use on said roads and bridges therein. Up to 25% of the money received by a municipality pursuant to this subsection, but not more than the actual amount budgeted for the municipal court, whichever is less, may be used to upgrade case processing.
Whenever any county has deposited moneys collected pursuant to this section in a special trust fund in lieu of expending the same for the purposes authorized by this section, it may withdraw from said special trust fund in any year an amount which is not in excess of the amount expended by the county over the immediately preceding three-year period from general county revenues for said purposes. Such moneys withdrawn from the trust fund shall be accounted for and used as are other general county revenues.
c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L. 1993, c.293.)
d. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. and b. of this section, $1.00 shall be added to the amount of each fine, penalty and forfeiture imposed and collected under authority of any law for any violation of the provisions of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes or any other motor vehicle or traffic violation in this State and shall be forwarded by the judge to whom the same are paid to the State Treasurer for deposit in the "Body Armor Replacement" fund established pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. )(now pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(cf: P.L.1993, c.293, s.5.)
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the second month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a body vest replacement program for local law enforcement officers.
Under the provisions of the bill, the Attorney General is to administer a grant program to provide replacement body vests for local law enforcement officers. The program is to operate on a five year cycle, with approximately 20 percent of the State's nearly 25,000 local law enforcement officers scheduled to receive replacement vests each year. The five year cycle is important because, on average, the effective life span of a body vest is five to seven years.
The Attorney General is to promulgate appropriate rules and regulations. In developing those rules and regulations, the Attorney General is directed to adopt grant application procedures for local law enforcement agencies which wish to participate in the program and criteria (such as crime rates and the age and conditions of the vest currently used by the applicant agency's officers) to be used to prioritize grant requests. To ensure that local law enforcement officers are obtaining the highest quality protective gear, the Attorney General's guidelines would identify the specific brands of vests that may be purchased with grant moneys.
Funding for the program is to come from a $1 fee added to all motor vehicle fines. These moneys are to be forwarded by the court collecting the motor vehicle fine to the State Treasurer and deposited in a special fund, the "Body Armor Replacement" fund. The moneys deposited in this fund are to be used exclusively for the purpose of providing grants to enable local law enforcement agencies secure new body vests for their officers every five years.
Establishes "Body Armor Replacement" fund; provides grants to replace protective body vests for local law enforcement officers every five years.