2023 Highlights

• Over the past 12 months, PTC has increased its staff by more than 50%, opened the ACADIS Portal, a public safety and compliance software, to over 500 law enforcement agencies, and trained over 1000 users. In addition, the staff conducted 10 in person licensing seminars, reaching 1,400 law enforcement professionals. OPIA/PTC staff drafted regulations to implement the Police Licensing Law which were approved by PTC and are being finalized.
• OPIA was the independent investigator for 21 civilian deaths during encounters with law enforcement, including nine fatal police shootings. OPIA presented 24 matters involving fatal police encounters/deaths in custody to the state grand jury this year, and of those, three indictments were returned resulting in charges against 10 law enforcement officers.
• In July 2023, the Attorney General and OPIA’s Conviction Review Unit announced the release of Dion Miller, previously convicted of felony murder, robbery and weapons charges, after extensive reinvestigation by the Unit revealed that there was clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Miller should not have been convicted. A new investigation into the robbery, assault and murder of the victim is underway by the Attorney General’s Cold Case Network.
• A report was commissioned from Dr. Matthew B. Ross, an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, who conducted an independent analysis of traffic stops made by the NJSP to determine whether there was a disparate impact on racial and ethnic minorities. Dr. Ross analyzed data related to 6.1 million traffic stops made by NJSP between January 2009 and June 2021. He found a significant disparity both in the decision to stop a motor vehicle and in the decision to engage in post-stop enforcement actions. The study included a solar visibility test that found that Black/African-American motorists were 2 percentage points (9.3 percent) and Hispanic/Latinx motorists were 2.9 percentage points (16.1 percent) more likely to have been stopped during periods when their race was more easily visible to police.