Examining Police Reforms in New Jersey: Impacts on Use of Force, Injuries, and Complaints

• In Event: Examining Police Reforms in New Jersey: Findings from a Multimethod, Multiyear Evaluation

Abstract

The suite of statewide reform efforts in New Jersey is designed to encourage officers to prioritize the use of de-escalation during police-citizen encounters and encourage bystander/peer intervention to reduce the need for and the severity of police use of force (UOF). To assess whether these behavioral changes were seen in the field, this paper employs multiple analytic techniques to assess the impact of the suite of reform changes on the following outcomes: (a) the frequency and severity of UOF incidents; (b) racial/ethnic disparities in UOF incidents; (c) officer and community member injuries; and (d) complaints resulting in internal affairs investigations. These outcomes will be examined at multiple units of analysis, including the individual police-citizen encounter and police agency level across more than 500 police departments in New Jersey. Implications based on the patterns of these findings for law enforcement executives and policymakers will be discussed.

Authors

• Ryan Fisher, National Policing Institute

• Nicholas Corsaro, University of Cincinnati

• Gabrielle Isaza, National Policing Institute