Friday, October 23, 2009

Police complaints in NJ

The ACLU of NJ reports that a majority of the state police departments are not following the law regarding citizen complaints. In the 1990's the state "adopted a strong Internal Affairs Policy" with procedures that state the following. Police must "accept complaints 24 hours a day" from "a victim, a third party or anonymous source" regardless of age. Complaints do not have to be filed in person, they can be filed over the phone and they can be anonymous. The policy also says that "juveniles could file a complaint without a parent present". This source says the law in this regard is not being followed by most law agencies.
(Source: "Confronting the Crisis Inside Internal Affairs in NJ's police departments" by Deborah Jacobs. Civil Liberties Report. The American Civil Liberties Union of NJ. 2nd Quarter 2009)/

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