Requires cultural diversity and implicit bias training be included in police basic training curriculum.

A2171

ASSEMBLY, No. 2171

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT

District 29 (Essex and Hudson)

Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman Verrelli, Assemblywoman Park, Assemblyman
Sampson and Assemblywoman Brennan

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires cultural diversity and implicit bias
training be included in police basic training curriculum.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

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

��

An Act
concerning cultural diversity and implicit bias basic
training for police officers, supplementing P.L.
2016, c.23, and amending
P.L.1961, c.56.�

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

���� 1.��� (New section)� a.� The
Police Training Commission shall include in the basic training course
curriculum for police officers the cultural diversity and implicit bias training
course materials developed or identified by the Department of Law and Public
Safety pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2016, c.23 (C.52:17B-77.13).�

���� b.��� For the purposes of this
section, �implicit bias� means having attitudes towards people or associating
stereotypes with them without conscious knowledge.�

����� 2.�� Section
6 of P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-71) is amended to read as follows:�

����� 6.�� The
commission is vested with the power, responsibility and duty:

����� a.�� To
prescribe standards for the approval and continuation of approval of schools at
which police training courses authorized by this act and in-service police
training courses shall be conducted, including but not limited to currently
existing regional, county, municipal, and police chief association police
training schools or at which basic training courses and in-service training
courses shall be conducted for State and county juvenile and adult correctional
police officers and juvenile detention officers;

����� b.�� To
approve and issue certificates of approval to these schools, to inspect the
schools from time to time, and to revoke any approval or certificate issued to
the schools;

����� c.�� To
prescribe the curriculum, the minimum courses of study, attendance
requirements, equipment and facilities, and standards of operation for these
schools.� Courses of study in crime prevention may be recommended to the Police
Training Commission by the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee, established by
section 2 of P.L.1985, c.1 (C.52:17B-77.1).� The Police Training Commission may
prescribe psychological and psychiatric examinations for police recruits while
in the schools;

����� d.�� To
prescribe minimum qualifications for instructors at these schools and to
certify, as qualified, instructors for approved police training schools and to
issue appropriate certificates to the instructors;�
minimum qualifications
for these instructors shall include specialized training in cultural diversity
and implicit bias in policing;

����� e.�� To
certify police officers, correctional police officers, juvenile correctional
police officers, and juvenile detention officers who have satisfactorily
completed training programs and to issue appropriate certificates to the police
officers, correctional police officers, juvenile correctional police officers,
and juvenile detention officers;

����� f.��� To
advise and consent in the appointment of an administrator of police services by
the Attorney General pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-73);

����� g.�� (Deleted
by amendment, P.L.1985, c.491.)

����� h.�� To
make rules and regulations as may be reasonably necessary or appropriate to
accomplish the purposes and objectives of this act;

����� i.��� To
make a continuous study of police training methods and training methods for
correctional police officers, juvenile correctional police officers, and
juvenile detention officers and to consult and accept the cooperation of any
recognized federal or State law enforcement agency or educational institution;

����� j.��� To
consult and cooperate with universities, colleges, and institutes in the State
for the development of specialized courses of study for police officers in
police science and police administration;

����� k.�� To
consult and cooperate with other departments and agencies of the State
concerned with police training or the training of correctional police officers,
juvenile correctional police officers, and juvenile detention officers;

����� l.��� To
participate in unified programs and projects relating to police training and
the training of correctional police officers, juvenile correctional police
officers, and juvenile detention officers sponsored by any federal, State, or
other public or private agency;

����� m.� To
perform other acts as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out its
functions and duties as set forth in this act;

����� n.�� To
extend the time limit for satisfactory completion of police training programs
or programs for the training of correctional police officers, juvenile
correctional police officers, and juvenile detention officers upon a finding
that health, extraordinary workload, or other factors have, singly or in
combination, effected a delay in the satisfactory completion of the training
program;

����� o.�� (1)����� To
furnish approved schools, for inclusion in their regular police training
courses and curriculum, with information concerning the advisability of high
speed chases, the risk caused by them, and the benefits resulting from them;

����� (2)�
To review and approve new standards and course curricula for police training
courses or programs to be offered by approved schools for the training of
police officers to be certified as a Drug Recognition Expert for detecting,
identifying, and apprehending drug-impaired motor vehicle operators.� The
commission shall consult with the Cannabis Regulatory Commission established by
section 31 of P.L.2019, c.153 (C.24:6I-24) with respect to any aspects of the
course curricula that focus on impairment from the use of cannabis items as
defined by section 3 of P.L.2021, c.16 (C.24:6I-33) or marijuana.� Any police
officer certified and recognized by the commission as a Drug Recognition Expert
prior to the effective date of this section, as amended by the �New Jersey
Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement, Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization
Act,� P.L.2021, c.16 (C.24:6I-31 et al), shall continue to be recognized as
certified until that certification has expired or is no longer considered valid
as determined by the commission, or the certification is replaced by the police
officer with a new certification in accordance with the new standards and
course curricula described in the paragraph.

����� p.�� To
review and approve new standards and course curricula developed by the
Department of Corrections for both basic and in-service training of State and
county correctional police officers and juvenile detention officers.� These
courses for the State correctional police officers and juvenile detention
officers shall be centrally provided at the Corrections Officers' Training
Academy of the Department of Corrections.� Courses for the county correctional
police officers and juvenile detention officers shall also be centrally
provided at the Corrections Officers' Training Academy unless an off-grounds
training program is established by the county.� A county may elect to establish
and conduct a basic training program for correctional police officers and
juvenile detention officers seeking permanent appointment in that county. The
Corrections Officers' Training Academy shall develop the curriculum of the
basic training program to be conducted by a county;

����� q.�� To
administer and distribute the monies in the Law Enforcement Officers Training
and Equipment Fund established by section 9 of P.L.1996, c.115 (C.2C:43-3.3)
and make rules and regulations for the administration and distribution of the
monies as may be necessary or appropriate to accomplish the purpose for which
the fund was established.

(cf:
P.L.2021, c.16, s.85)

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

����� This bill requires the Police Training Commission in
the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety to
include cultural diversity and implicit bias training in the basic training
course for police officers appointed to a police department or force.�

����� Current law requires the Department of Law and Public
Safety to develop or identify a uniform cultural diversity and implicit bias
training course, including an on-line tutorial, which includes instruction
promoting positive interaction with all members residing in the community,
regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.� The
training course is available to every State, county, municipal, and campus
police department or force for in-service training of its officers.� This bill
would require this cultural diversity and implicit bias training to be
administered to police officers during their mandated basic training. The bill
defines �implicit bias� as having attitudes towards people or associating
stereotypes with them without conscious knowledge.�

����� Finally, the bill requires instructors at basic
training academies for police officers to receive specialized training in
cultural diversity and implicit bias in policing.