NJ Senate Law & Public Safety Committee Advances Cunningham Bill Requiring Law Enforcement Agencies Establish Minority Recruitment Programs

By a unanimous 5-0 vote on Tuesday, the New Jersey Senate’s Law & Public Safety approved legislation co-sponsored by Sandra Cunningham (D – District 31) which would require the state’s law enforcement agencies to establish minority recruitment and selection programs.  The bill is one of five bills cleared out of the Committee today.

All of the pieces of legislation are a direct response to the national protests which have taken place in recent months calling for an end to racial discrimination and police brutality.  They are intended to end racial bias in law enforcement.

Senator Cunningham’s bill, S-401, is co-sponsored by Shirley Turner, a Democrat from Ewing Township.

Other bills in the package, if eventually signed into law, would require the Division of Parole to offer parole services to certain defendants who have served their minimum sentence; provide cultural diversity training for law enforcement officers; would classify false police reports and false incrimination as a form of bias intimidation; and incorporate implicit bias in cultural diversity training materials for law enforcement personnel.