CJ Griffin Co-Authored Opinion on Police Transparency and Accountability Featured in the Star Ledger
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden co-authored a Star-Ledger Guest Columnist Opinion, together with criminal defense attorney Jennifer Selliti, “This effort to reform New Jersey’s police is nice. But it is not enough.” The opinion suggests that while the New Jersey Attorney General’s use-of-force dashboard is a positive step, it fails to create any new transparency or a path to accountability. The opinion concludes:
To bring transparency to policing and true accountability for police misconduct, we must pass Senate Bill 2656/Assembly Bill 5301, which would make law enforcement disciplinary records available for release under OPRA, including, but not limited to: complaints filed against officers, transcripts from disciplinary hearings, and internal affairs records. This would give us details about particular instances of behavior and the subsequent consequences for misdeeds.
We simply cannot claim we are a national leader on police reform when other states are outpacing us.
To view the full Opinion, click here.