Bill Text: NJ A5876 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires AG to collect and report law enforcement detention data; creates Racial and Identity Profiling Elimination Advisory Council.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-12-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee [A5876 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A5876-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires AG to collect and report law enforcement detention data; creates Racial and Identity Profiling Elimination Advisory Council.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring the collection and reporting of certain law enforcement data, creating the Racial and Identity Profiling Elimination Advisory Council, and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Stop" means any detention of an individual by a law enforcement officer based on no more than an articulable suspicion of wrongdoing for the purpose of investigation on the spot.
"Law enforcement officer" means the same as provided in section 3 of P.L.2021, c.327 (C.2C:12-14).
b. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Division of State Police, county prosecutors offices, and the Administrative Office of the Courts shall establish a program to collect, record, and collate data regarding all stops by law enforcement officers in this State. The data shall not include the name, address, social security number or other unique identifying data of the person stopped. The data shall include:
(1) the time, date, and location of the stop;
(2) the reason for the stop;
(3) the result of the stop, including, no action, warning, citation, property seizure, or arrest;
(4) if a warning or citation was issued, the warning provided or violation cited;
(5) the offense charged pursuant to an arrest;
(6) the perceived race or ethnicity, gender, and approximate age of the person stopped, which shall be based on the observation and perception of the law enforcement officer making the stop, and the information shall not be requested from the individual stopped. In the case of a motor vehicle stop, this paragraph only shall apply to the driver, unless any actions specified under paragraph (7) of this subsection apply in relation to a passenger, in which case the characteristics specified in this paragraph also shall be reported for that individual;
(7) action taken by the law enforcement officer during the stop, including, but not limited to, whether the law enforcement officer:
(a) requested consent to search the person, and if consent was provided;
(b) searched the person or any property and, if so, the basis for the search and any evidence discovered;
(c) seized any property and the basis for the seizure;.
(8) for each law enforcement agency, the number of citizen complaints alleging racial or identity profiling based on national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sex, mental or physical disability, or any other class protected under the Law Against Discrimination, and the disposition of the claim in the following categories:
(a) "sustained" means an investigation disclosed sufficient evidence of the truth of the allegation by a preponderance of evidence;
(b) "exonerated" means the investigation clearly establishes that actions of law enforcement that formed the basis of the complaint were not in violation of law or policy; or
(c) "unfounded" means the investigation established the allegation to be untrue.
c. The Attorney General shall annually prepare and publish on its Internet website a summary of the data collected, recorded, and collated pursuant to this section.
d. The Attorney General may utilize the services of any public or private entity or entities for the performance of activities in furtherance of the program established under this section, and may enter into agreements for those purposes as the Attorney General deems advisable.
2. a. There is established within the Department of Law and Public Safety the Racial and Identity Profiling Elimination Advisory Council. The purpose of the council is to provide the department with best practices and recommendations concerning the elimination of racial and identity profiling in policing in the form of an annual report, based on an analysis of the data produced pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). Upon submission to the department, the report shall be published on the Internet website of the department.
b. The membership of the council shall be composed of 12 members as follows:
(1) the Attorney General, or a designee;
(2) the Superintendent of the Division of State Police, or a designee;
(3) a member of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey;
(4) a member of the Office of the Public Defender;
(5) a member of the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police;
(6) two representatives of community organizations who represent New Jersey based social justice and civil rights organizations specializing in criminal justice reform, to be appointed by the Governor;
(7) a university professor with demonstrated expertise in criminal justice and who is experienced in the study of evidence based methods of reducing racial and identity profiling, to be appointed by the Governor;
(8) two members of the public with experience in addressing and reducing racial and identity bias toward groups or individuals, one of whom shall be appointed by the Governor upon recommendation of the President of the Senate and one of whom shall be appointed by the Governor upon recommendation of the Minority Leader of the Senate;
(9) two members of the public with experience in addressing and reducing racial and identity bias toward groups or individuals, one of whom shall be appointed by the Governor upon recommendation the Speaker of the General Assembly and one of whom shall be appointed by the Governor upon recommendation of the Minority Leader of the General Assembly.
c. The council shall convene as soon as is practicable but no later than one year after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) and shall have at least three public meetings per year, with at least one public meeting in each part of the State, North, Central and South.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the eighteenth month next following the date of enactment except that the Office of the Attorney General, Division of State Police, and county prosecutors offices may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the collection and reporting of all law enforcement detentions and establishes a council to make recommendations to eliminate racial and identity profiling in policing.
This bill would require the Attorney General to direct law enforcement agencies to collect data on all detentions and to report the aggregated, de-identified data on the Internet website of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
Currently, the Department of Law and Public Safety collects data on motor vehicle stops. Under the bill, law enforcement agencies would have to report data on all stops, which the bill defines as any detention of an individual by a law enforcement officer based on no more than an articulable suspicion of wrongdoing for the purpose of investigation on the spot.
The bill also establishes the Racial and Identity Profiling Elimination Advisory Council in the Department of Law and Public Safety. The council will be charged with analyzing the data published by the Attorney General's office and making recommendations to advance the progress of eliminating identity profiling in policing. The council shall be composed of 12 members including: the Attorney General, or a designee; the Superintendent of the Division of State Police, or a designee; a member of the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey; a member of the Office of the Public Defender; two appointees of the Governor who are representatives of New Jersey based community justice organizations focused on civil rights; four members of the public with experience in reducing racial and identity bias who will be appointees of the Governor upon recommendation of the Senate President, Senate Minority Leader, Speaker of the General Assembly, and Minority Leader of the General Assembly; and a university professor with demonstrated expertise in criminal justice and experienced in the study of evidence based methods of reducing racial and identity profiling, who would be appointed by the Governor.
