By Police1 Staff
TRENTON, N.J. — A new bill proposed to the New Jersey State Legislature would require officials to identify police officers involved in fatal shootings within 48 hours of the incident, according to NJ.com.
The publication reports that the requirement was added to a piece of legislation that would put all officer-involved shooting investigations under the attorney general.
The addition states names of all officers present at the scene be released to the public, except in cases where the attorney general finds such a disclosure “will jeopardize the officer’s safety or the safety of the officer’s immediate family,” according to the proposed text.
Currently, fatal shootings involving local departments are investigated by county prosecutors, but if they involve county or state departments they are investigated by a division under the attorney general’s office.
Many New Jersey police representatives call it an “unnecessary intrusion” on their departments.
New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association Spokesman Rob Nixon said the bill “starts with an assumption that’s never been proven: that our county prosecutors are incapable of impartiality in seeking justice when police officers are involved in a shooting.”