S.3595C: This legislation establishes the Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office within the Department of Law. The Attorney General would appoint a Deputy Attorney General to lead the Office. The Office would have jurisdiction over all police agencies of any political subdivision of the State, as well as other agencies and authorities that employ police forces, except those agencies under the jurisdiction of the State Inspector General, the MTA Inspector General, and the Port Authority Inspector General. The Office would have a statutory mission to review, audit, and make recommendations relating to law enforcement operations and policies with the goal of enhancing effectiveness, increasing public safety, protecting civil liberties, civil rights, and constitutional and legal protections, and increasing the public's confidence in law enforcement. In furtherance of this mission, the Office would be able to investigate complaints, issue subpoenas, publish reports, and make recommendations.
The Office would also submit an annual report with a summary of its activities and recommendations for changes in State law to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the four legislative majority and minority leaders. Where the Office makes a recommendation for remedial action to a department, the head of that department must inform the Governor and legislative majority and minority leaders as to what actions their department has taken in response within 90 days. Under the bill, any officer or employee of an agency under the Office's jurisdiction would have the duty to report corruption, fraud, use of excessive force, criminal activity, conflicts of interest, or abuse to the Office. Knowing failure to report would constitute cause for removal or other appropriate penalty.
Officers and employees who do make reports would be protected from dis- missal, discipline, or other adverse personnel action. Lastly, if an agency receives more than five complaints about an individual officer from five separate incidents within a two-year period, the head of that agency must refer the complaints to the Office. The Office must investigate the complaints to determine whether the officer has a pattern or practice of misconduct. The investigation would not supersede other actions against the officer.