Concerns use of force by law enforcement officers under certain circumstances and requires certain reporting of use of force incidents.

A1388

ASSEMBLY, No. 1388

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman ELLEN J. PARK

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Assemblyman MICHAEL VENEZIA

District 34 (Essex)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Haider and Lopez

SYNOPSIS

���� Concerns use of force by law enforcement officers
under certain circumstances and requires certain reporting of use of force
incidents.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

concerning law enforcement officers, and supplementing Title 2C of the New
Jersey Statutes and Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

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

����� 1.�� a.�
The Attorney General shall review the Statewide use of force policy applicable
to law enforcement officers every even numbered year, or in such shorter time
frame as the Attorney General may deem appropriate, and revise it as need may
require.

����� Any
revision of the Statewide use of force policy shall be in furtherance of at
least the following core principles:

����� (1)�
respecting
the sanctity of human life and serving
the community;

����� (2)�
prioritizing
other reasonable measures, including de-escalation, that must be attempted
before resorting to the use of force;

����� (3)�
promoting the use of only objectively reasonable, necessary and proportional
force, including the use of deadly force only as a last resort; and

����� (4)�
articulating other duties attendant to the use of force, such as a law
enforcement officer�s duty to intervene, to render medical assistance, and to
report and review uses of force.

����� b.�� The
Attorney General shall transmit any revisions of the Statewide use of force
policy to the chief or director of every county and municipal law enforcement
department, every municipal and county prosecutor, and the Superintendent of
State Police.

����� c.�� The
Attorney General, in reviewing the Statewide use of force policy pursuant to
subsection a. of this section, shall hold three public hearings,
one hearing in each of the northern, central, and
southern regions of the State
, at such times as the Attorney General
shall determine, in order to receive feedback from the community related to
such policy.� Such public hearings shall include local law enforcement and
community members and organizations.

����� 2.�
a.� The Attorney General shall establish and maintain a procedure by which all
incidents involving the use of force by a law enforcement officer are reported
to the Department of Law and Public Safety, and shall compile such information
for presentation on the Department�s internet website, which shall be
accessible to the public and shall be regularly updated in accordance with
procedures established by the Attorney General.

����� b.�� The
information compiled pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall made
available for public inspection pursuant to P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.),
commonly known as the Open Public Records Act.

����� 3.�� a.
The Attorney General shall issue and revise as needed guidelines and procedures
applicable to law enforcement encounters involving a barricaded individual.�
Any revision to such guidelines and procedures shall be in furtherance of the
components and principles enumerated in subsection b. of this section.�

����� b.�
These guidelines and procedures shall address, at a minimum, the following
components and principles:

����� (1)�
Proper identification of situations involving a barricaded individual,
including differentiating between situations involving a barricaded individual
experiencing a mental health crisis that poses a health, safety or welfare risk
to the individual or others, and those situations involving a barricaded
individual or hostage situation under circumstances that do not involve a
mental health crisis.� Appropriate protocols shall be established for dealing
with those situations based on their differing nature, including whether the
use of stun guns, as that term is defined in N.J.S.2C:39-1, may be considered
as a non-lethal option and whether officers should prioritize waiting for
conflict resolution through negotiating and communication by a mental health
professional rather than engaging the barricaded individual;

����� (2)�
Initial responding law enforcement officers� roles and responsibilities,
including ensuring that responding officers consider the barricaded
individual�s primary language and, if communication is difficult, take
reasonable steps to establish communication via the person�s primary language,
including but not limited to, utilizing bilingual officers, interpreters,
telephonic interpretation or translation services, or community crisis response
teams, if feasible and appropriate;

����� (3)�
Law enforcement de-escalation responses to barricaded individual and hostage
situations, and interaction with individuals in behavioral and mental health
crises, including crisis intervention, crisis negotiation, resolution
techniques, and resolution tactics;

����� (4)�
Roles and responsibilities of supervisors, including establishing that it is
the responsibility of the incident commander, absent exigent circumstances, to
make the decision to employ resolution tactics or to enter a structure or area
occupied by a barricaded individual, which decision shall be made after giving
due consideration to all available alternative strategies and information,
including that provided by the tactical commander, crisis negotiation team
leader, and available mental health professionals;

����� (5)�
Proper coordination of activities between incident command systems and tactical
teams, and providing that, when feasible, a law enforcement officer trained in
crisis intervention shall respond to incidents involving barricaded individuals
and assist in de-escalating the situation and recommending appropriate
resources;

����� (6)�
Appropriate role and use of mental health professionals, including providing
that tactical teams or crisis negotiation teams shall identify qualified and
experienced mental health professionals who shall respond to any incidents
involving a barricaded individual or hostage situation.� These mental health
professionals may be individual providers or organizations and, where feasible,
shall be present for law enforcement encounters with barricaded individuals.

����� 4.�

The Police Training Commission shall
develop and include barricaded individual training for law enforcement officers
in all of its basic training courses. This mandatory training shall include
proper identification of barricaded individuals, responses to barricaded
individual and hostage situations, and interacting with individuals in
behavioral and mental health crises.

���� 5.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.�

STATEMENT

���� This bill requires the
Attorney General (AG) to review and, if necessary, revise its use-of-force
policy at least every even-numbered year or in such shorter time frame as
needed.

���� The bill requires that any
revision to the Statewide use-of-force policy be in furtherance of the
following core principles:

���� (1)� respecting the sanctity
of human life and serving the community;

���� (2)� prioritizing other
reasonable measures, including de-escalation, that must be attempted before
resorting to the use of force;

���� (3)� promoting the use of only
objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional force, including the use of
deadly force only as a last resort; and

���� (4)� articulating other duties
attendant to the use of force, such as a law enforcement officer�s duty to
intervene, to render medical assistance, and to report and review uses of
force.

���� The bill requires the policy
to be transmitted to the chief or director of every municipal and county police
department, every municipal and county prosecutor, and the Superintendent of
State Police.

���� The bill requires the AG, upon
review of the policy as required by the bill, to hold three public hearings in
order to receive feedback from the community.

���� Moreover, the bill requires
the AG to establish and maintain a procedure for reporting incidents involving
use-of-force to the Department of Law and Public Safety, and to compile such
information in a publicly accessible website.� Use-of-force incident information
will be subject to the Open Public Records Act.

���� Finally, the bill requires the
AG to issue and revise as needed guidelines and procedures applicable to law
enforcement encounters involving a barricaded individual.� Further, the Police
Training Commission is required to develop and include barricaded individual
training for law enforcement officers.� The bill requires that any revisions to
the guidelines are in furtherance of the following components and principles:

���� (1) situations involving
barricaded individuals should be differentiated based on whether they involve a
mental health crisis, with appropriate protocols like negotiation and
non-lethal options tailored to the situation;

���� (2)� initial responding
officers are required to account for a barricaded individual�s primary
language;

���� (3)� law enforcement responses
should incorporate crisis intervention, negotiation, and resolution techniques;

���� (4)� supervisors and incident
commanders are responsible for determining resolution tactics, factoring in
input from tactical teams, negotiators, and mental health professionals;

���� (5)� proper coordination
between incident command systems and tactical teams, with crisis intervention
officers responding to deescalate barricaded individual situations; and

���� (6)� the appropriate role and
use of mental health professionals, when available.