Internal Affairs Policies and Procedures

Internal Affairs Policies & Procedures

Ensuring accountability in New Jersey’s police departments

2022 Internal Affairs Policies and Procedures

In New Jersey, every state, county, and local law enforcement agency is required to establish a process for disciplining officers who commit misconduct or otherwise violate the agency’s rules. Generally speaking, this disciplinary process is handled by the agency’s “internal affairs” (IA) unit, which operates outside the normal chain of command and is responsible for investigating misconduct and recommending discipline to the agency’s leaders.

In 1991, the Attorney General issued Internal Affairs Policies & Procedures (IAPP), which established statewide standards for the operations of IA units in New Jersey. Five years later, in 1996, the Legislature went a step further, requiring that each law enforcement agency in New Jersey adopt its own policies consistent with IAPP. The document has been updated several times since then, including a significant revision in December 2019 as part of Attorney General Grewal’s Excellence in Policing Initiative. Several additional changes were made in subsequent years.

The current version of IAPP, which went into effect on November 15, 2022, is known as the “November 2022 IAPP” and includes an appendix of fifteen sample forms and documents. The first two of these sample forms are intended for public use: a “civilian complaint information sheet,” which explains how to file an IA complaint (Appendix A), and a standardized “internal affairs report form” for civilians seeking to file a complaint (Appendix B). Both of these documents have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Haitian, Hindi, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. The remaining appendices (Appendix C to Appendix O) are intended for internal use by law enforcement.

Major Discipline Reporting Form (IAPP Appendix L)

Pursuant to Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive No. 2022-14, every state, county, and local law enforcement agency in New Jersey is required to submit to the Attorney General and the County Prosecutor, and publish on the agency’s public website, a brief synopsis of all complaints where a termination, reduction in rank or grade, and/or suspension of more than five days, as well as sustained findings listed in the above directive, regardless of the type or severity of discipline imposed, was assessed to an agency member. For the purposes of this report, please include all major disciplines in which a plea agreement was reached or final sanction was imposed during the time period of January 1, 2023-Dec 31, 2023. In addition, include all discipline from earlier years which was has been on appeal, the final appeal was resolved during 2023, and the discipline remains in one of the enumerated categories. The report must be filed no later than January 31, 2024. Please use the link below for the submission.

To download a copy of the Major Discipline Reporting Form, scroll down to “Additional IAPP Appendices” and download the link listed as Appendix L.

Internal Affairs Dashboard

Under the Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures (IAPP) (AG Directive 2021-6), law enforcement agencies in New Jersey are required to submit an Annual Internal Affairs Summary to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA). Agencies were instructed to submit internal affairs information for sworn officers in accordance with the data collection parameters outlined in Appendix K of the policy. The Internal Affairs Dashboard includes this information as reported by each agency.

Download Latest Versions of IAPP and Related Material

• Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures (Revised, November 2022)
• AG Directive 2022-14 Transparency in Internal Affairs Investigations