Nationwide reckoning: The coverage adjustments come eight months after George Floyd’s dying by the hands of police in Minneapolis sparked sustaine
Nationwide reckoning: The coverage adjustments come eight months after George Floyd’s dying by the hands of police in Minneapolis sparked sustained protests in New Jersey and throughout the U.S. in opposition to police brutality and a launched nationwide reckoning with the best way regulation enforcement interacts with Black communities.
Grewal mentioned his workplace “didn’t start this difficult work after the occasions of this Could,” declaring that New Jersey has been “working collaboratively with regulation enforcement and neighborhood stakeholders nicely earlier than then to make sure professionalism, accountability, and transparency throughout regulation enforcement, and to construct neighborhood belief.”
Grewal mentioned the coverage adjustments proceed the Excellence in Policing Initiative launched late final 12 months to foster elevated accountability, transparency and professionalism in regulation enforcement.
“The homicide of George Floyd and different tragic instances of unjust, extreme use-of-force added urgency to the general public dialogue and diligent work that led to at present’s far-reaching insurance policies in New Jersey,” he mentioned.
Particular adjustments: The coverage adjustments embrace: Banning choke holds and increasing the definition of “lethal drive” to incorporate extended sitting, kneeling or standing on an individual’s chest, again, or neck, in addition to baton or asp strikes to the pinnacle or neck; selling “much less deadly” choices, together with tasers and rubber bullets, to “management encounters earlier than they escalate to the purpose the place lethal drive is required;” limiting the usage of police canines in opposition to those that are resisting arrest however don’t pose a menace and their use in opposition to and round crowds or protesters; and issuing a statewide directive encouraging county prosecutors to place collectively working teams to handle police interactions with the particular wants neighborhood and people residing with psychological or behavioral well being challenges.
Will it work?: To measure the impression of the brand new coverage adjustments, the AG’s workplace will use its Use of Power Portal — a statewide digital reporting system officers should use to report particulars of each use of drive established after NJ Advance Media printed the “Power Report,” which created a public database of use of drive studies within the state.
The AG’s workplace will use information compiled by the portal to investigate how drive is used, when extreme drive is used, and if there are racial disparities in the usage of drive.
In February 2021, the AG’s workplace will launch a public model of the portal.