George Floyd should be alive today. Instead, he was killed by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020. His death sparked a year of mourning and protests — and changed the world. More than a year later, there are steps toward justice in policing that we must take, nationwide and in New Jersey.
The ACLU-NJ is working to shine a light on policing, demand accountability, and place power in the hands of communities, not police. A newly formed statewide coalition, New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing, NJ-CAP, brings together the dozens of community organizations, civil rights groups, and grassroots activists who are demanding change.
Together with NJ-CAP, we’re calling on the Legislature to pass a comprehensive police reform package, with a few amendments that would strengthen the following bills:
- Making records of police misconduct public (A5301/ S2656)
- Embracing strong Civilian Complaint Review Boards (CCRBs) (A4656/S2963)
- Limiting the use of chokeholds (A4284/S2617)
- Limiting the use of deadly force (A4526/S3825)
- Ending qualified immunity (A4578/S3730)
On June 21, the ACLU-NJ joined partners from NJ-CAP at a rally at the state-house to urge lawmakers to pass police reform legislation, including A4656/S2963, to protect essential CCRB pow-ers by law. ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha addressed the crowd: “There are attempts to undermine every single one of the pieces of legislation. Don’t be fooled. A CCRB without its core elements is not true accountability — it’s just accountability theater.”
