NJ-CAP Legislative Priorities (2022)

New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing — known as NJ-CAP — is a statewide coalition working to place power in the hands of communities.

NJ-CAP is made up of grassroots activists, racial and social justice advocates, people harmed by law enforcement, faith leaders, and legal experts united in the belief that the racial injustices in law enforcement and the criminal legal system are morally unacceptable.

NJ-CAP supports a slate of urgent priorities before the Legislature that address key issues:

• Shining Light on Secret Police Discipline: S371/A996
  • The public has almost no way of knowing how — or if — police are disciplined for various forms of misconduct. This bill follows many other states to make that information available through the Open Public Records Act.
• Empowering Communities with Oversight of Police through Civilian Complaint Review Boards: A1515
  • This legislation allows communities to set up civilian complaint review boards with subpoena power, the ability to investigate at the same time as internal police investigations, disciplinary authority, and, most importantly, real community representation.
• The Right to Sue Police for Individual Misconduct: S375/A1006
  • A legal principle called qualified immunity makes it almost impossible to hold individual officers liable for misconduct in civil lawsuits. These bills would remove one of the roadblocks that make it difficult to hold police accountable for harms.
• Stopping Lethal Police Tactics: S265/A2431 and A866
  • One bill would criminalize police use of chokeholds in New Jersey, and the other would strictly limit use of other deadly force.