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Trenton,
NJ – Attorney General Anne Milgram
today announced the appointment of an advisory
group which will study the circumstances
in which law enforcement officers in the
state should be permitted to use less-lethal
ammunition designed to stun or temporarily
disable people.
“We
must carefully analyze the spectrum of alternatives
to deadly force options that police may
use to protect the public and officer safety,’’
Milgram said. “I believe this is an
outstanding group of attorneys and criminal
justice experts who will help us decide
the issue.”
The
advisory group on less lethal force will
be co-chaired by retired Superior Court
Appellate Judge Dennis J. Braithwaite and
Mitchell Sklar, the executive director of
the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs
of Police.
Other
advisory group members are Essex County
Prosecutor Paula Dow; Middlesex County Prosecutor
Bruce Kaplan; Robert N. Davison, the executive
director of the Mental Health Association
of Essex County; Deputy Attorney General
Dermot O’Grady, who is the acting
director of the Office of State Police Affairs;
and Ricardo Solano Jr., a criminal defense
director at the Gibbons law firm in Newark
and a former assistant U.S. Attorney. Solano
is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall
Law School.
Milgram
said she expected a report by December 1
that includes recommendations on whether
the state’s current use of force policy
should be revised to authorize the use of
less lethal ammunition in specific circumstances
where deadly force might not be justified
under current law. She said she expected
the panel to hold at least one public hearing.
In
the meantime, she said police may use less
lethal, non-penetrating ammunition in circumstances
where deadly force would be justified.
She
said once the advisory group has resolved
the policy question concerning the use of
less lethal ammunition, she will ask that
it examine the legal and policy issues concerning
other types of less lethal force including
stun guns.
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