NJ blocks arrests, citations as markers for police promotion

Police reform. (AP) New Jersey police departments cannot consider the number of arrests made or citations handed out as criteria of an officer’s performance for promotion under a new law signed Thursday.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed the legislation more than three months after lawmakers sent it to his desk. Murphy, who is running for reelection this year, did not comment on the new law.

The measure’s sponsors said it was necessary because ``for too long the way that perceived or real efforts by some officers to achieve ‘quotas’ in order to attain higher evaluations ... can have a detrimental effect on our communities,’’ Democratic state Sen. Shirley Turner said in a statement.

New Jersey law already prohibited police from using quotas for arrests and citations, though agencies could consider arrest and citation data as part of an overall performance evaluation.

The new law stops that altogether.