New law: Police prohibited from considering citation and arrest data in performance evaluations

New Jersey State Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space’s bill that prohibits police departments from using the number of tickets issued or arrests made by officers in their performance evaluations has been signed into law.

State law bans police departments from establishing arrest and ticket quotas, but agencies were permitted to use such data when evaluating an officer’s performance.

”Not only is it unfair to factor the volume of citations and arrests into an officer’s performance evaluation when we did away with quotas decades ago, but there are much more effective performance measurements like decision-making abilities, response times and work ethic,” Wirths (R-Sussex) said. “This law allows our dedicated police officers to focus on protecting and serving the public.”

Law enforcement agencies have used the number of citations and arrests when deciding who gets promoted, demoted, awarded or disciplined, according to the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.

“Our men and women in blue deserve to be promoted based on merit, not outdated and banned quotas. Quotas are illegal because they harm communities and their relationships with law enforcement. This measure will close a loophole that essentially permitted law enforcement agencies to embrace unlawful quotas,” Space (R-Sussex) said.

The law (S1322/A4058) becomes effective immediately.