Last summer, Governor Murphy signed P.L. 2022, c. 65, which establishes a police licensing program for all New Jersey law enforcement officers. This new law tasked the Police Training Commission (PTC) with adopting rules related to the licensing of police officers within the state. In April, the PTC published and opened for comment draft rules.
On August 10, at a special meeting, the PTC formerly adopted final rules but a copy was not made publicly available until they were published in the September 5 Register.
The rules were mostly adopted as they were presented in the April draft except after considerable concerns were raised from commentors the PTC removed the provision from the final rule that would have required license applicants to provide access to outwardly facing social media accounts. The PTC has said that they will continue to review the rules related to social media and may address them at another time.
You should review these licensing rules with your public safety officials and other professionals for additional information.
In addition, this year’s League Conference will include an educational session featuring officials from the Police Training Commission who will discuss these new rules. This session is scheduled for Thursday, November 16 at 10:45. Those who are interested in learning more about these rules and will be at the Conference should plan on attending this session.
League Contact: Frank Marshall, Associate General Counsel, 609-695-3481 ext. 137, fmarsahll@njlm.org