Attorney General Gurbir Grewal speaks during a press conference announcing a directive promoting emotional and mental well-being for New Jersey law enforcement officers at the Newark Police Department Communications Center in Newark on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. ghows_gallery_ei-TH-200619854-f444a25d.jpg
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Trenton, NJ (77WABC)-The public can test and provide feedback on a new “beta version” of an online dashboard that catalogs the use of force by New Jersey’s 38,000 law enforcement officers.
NJ Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced the new tool on Wednesday saying “We are committed to making New Jersey a national leader on policing reform, and our Use of Force Dashboard is a central piece of that effort.” He said “that’s why we’re so eager to get public feedback. We recognize that true accountability is impossible without transparency, and we want to learn how we can make our Use of Force Dashboard as transparent and accessible as possible.”
Grewal explained the dashboard allows users to review details of any incident where a state, county, or local law enforcement officer uses force against a civilian. The dashboard is accessible at njoag.gov/force.
A video explaining the core principles of the online dashboard is below:
Under current policy, all law enforcement officers in New Jersey are required to submit detailed information about every use of force they perform or witness within 24 hours of the incident.
Over the past two years, the Attorney General’s Office has partnered with Benchmark Analytics to build a centralized system to collect this data electronically. Starting in October 2020, all of New Jersey’s 500-plus law enforcement agencies began submitting data through the new system.
In addition, the Attorney General’s Office is making available the raw data underlying the dashboard to the public for download on the beta version of the dashboard. The data—which contains information about all use-of-force incidents since October 2020—will be regularly updated as law enforcement agencies submit reports about incidents in the future.
The launch of the dashboard is the latest in a set of sweeping reforms implemented by Attorney General Grewal to strengthen trust in law enforcement. Most notably, in December 2020, Attorney General Grewal overhauled the state’s “Use of Force Policy,” placing new limits on the use of force and mandating de-escalation training for all 38,000 law enforcement officers in the state. In developing the new policy, the Attorney General’s Office sought significant public input, hosting community listening sessions in all 21 counties and creating a website to receive public suggestions.
Other significant statewide policing reforms implemented by Attorney General Grewal include:
- Establishing a mandatory 10-step process for conducting independent criminal investigations involving any serious use-of-force or death-in-custody incident in New Jersey;
- Requiring that all state, county, and local law enforcement agencies create and maintain an “early warning system” to identify at-risk officers and provide remedial services before their conduct escalates;
- Overhauling the statewide protocols for the internal disciplinary process for police departments, imposing new oversight and ensuring thorough investigations on faster timelines; and
- Issuing a series of new directives designed to strengthen trust between law enforcement officers and historically marginalized communities, including immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, at-risk juveniles, and victims of sexual assault.
To learn more about other recent policing reforms in New Jersey, visit njoag.gov/policing.
