CJ Griffin Authors Op-Ed in The Jersey Vindicator, “Why Jack Ciattarelli Should Drop His Promise to End New Jersey’s Use of Force Reporting”

CJ Griffin, Partner and Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C., recently authored an op-ed in The Jersey Vindicator titled, “Why Jack Ciattarelli Should Drop His Promise to End New Jersey’s Use of Force Reporting.” The op-ed argues that Jack Ciattarelli’s plan to end New Jersey’s “Use of Force” reporting would undo years of progress on police transparency. It says removing this system would hide important data on officer actions and make it harder to hold police accountable. The op-ed ends by calling on Ciattarelli to back off his campaign promise and for Mikie Sherrill to clarify with the public where she stands on this issue.

Read excerpts from Griffin’s op-ed below:

To grasp the impact of Ciattarelli’s proposal, the dashboard shows nearly 50,000 force incidents over the past five years. If reporting were limited to firearm discharges, it would capture fewer than 250 incidents—erasing thousands of punches, takedowns, tasers and canine bites.

The public, which foots the bill for millions in excessive force settlements, would be robbed of key data that enables them to monitor their police departments to look for concerning trends and to lobby for reforms. Police chiefs would be deprived of this community input.

Such a change would also prevent meaningful oversight inside police departments. Supervisors would have no systematic way to review force incidents for legality or to correct patterns before they escalate into something tragic. 

The stakes are even higher for people of color. Use of force continues to be used disproportionately against people of color. Without full and complete reporting, that fact becomes harder to prove and to address. Under Ciattarelli’s proposal, a UFR would be unnecessary even if an officer seriously injures someone, so long as a gun was not discharged.

Mandatory, use of force reporting is a decades’ old, bipartisan requirement. It produces better policy and training and it keeps the public—who fund the police and are liable for their misconduct—informed and safer.

To read Griffin’s full op-ed in The Jersey Vindicator, click here.