Earlier this week NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a Directive seeking to promote emotional and mental well-being of New Jersey law enforcement officers. The Directive creates the New Jersey Resiliency Program for Law Enforcement (“NJRP-LE”), a training program to be developed by experts in order to “instill a positive culture for law enforcement officers by providing them with the tools to withstand, recover, and grow in the face of stressors, trauma, and the changing demands of their unique work.”
The Directive requires all law enforcement agencies to appoint within 60 days at least one Resiliency Program Officer (RPO), who will be responsible for implementing the NJRP-LE. The head of each law enforcement agency is responsible for selecting the RPO based on criteria set forth in the directive. Once selected the name and contact information of the RPO must be sent to the County Prosecutor within 15 days.
The RPO must then attend a two-day Resiliency Training Symposium scheduled for October 10-11, 2019. The symposium will provide RPOs with an overview of the Directive and the NJRP-LE. Once the local RPO receives their training they are then responsible for training all law enforcement officers within their own agencies. All law enforcement officers must be trained in the NJRP-LE no later than December 31, 2022.
Contact: Frank Marshall, Esq., League Staff Attorney, fmarshall@njlm.org, 609-695-3481 x137.