Getting more women in law enforcement

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Jun 10, 2022 View in browser   By Jonathan Custodio Presented by the NJ Board of Public Utilities New Jersey police departments still have a lot of work to do in diversifying their workforces, particularly when it comes to women. Of the state's 30,505 active and full-time officers, just over 10 percent are female, and nearly 89 percent are male, according to an April report analyzing statewide data on the demographics of law enforcement by Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin. John Zebrowski, president of the New Jersey Association of Police Chiefs, told POLITICO that police chiefs are reaching out to different stakeholders outside the departments for guidance in raising the number of women officers, adding that officers who are men must practice more empathy for the unique experiences of their gender counterparts. Police departments have been hit with several lawsuits over the last few years alleging discrimination on the basis of gender. Last week, veteran police officer Julie White sued Bergen County's Norwood Police Department, alleging it refuses to promote women officers to sergeant. And NJ Advance Media published audio recordings in April, in which Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso referred to women in law enforcement in harsh, derogatory terms. Donna Roman Hernandez, who was an officer for more than 20 years, brought her own lawsuit in 2004 against the Caldwell Police Department, where she was the first Latina the department hired and the only woman until the last year of a 13-year stretch. She alleged that the department had passed her over for a promotion at least three times, partly because of her gender. "I'd like to call it a masculine culture of policing. That's what I was experiencing," Roman Hernandez said, noting her police chief told her "this was a man's job." Roman Hernandez, a Latina, said police departments need to employ a "standardization of hiring" and "accreditation" to properly evaluate officers, as well as a "national standard of policing." "Communities change, cultural sensitivity changes and movements change. And all of those changes don't necessarily align with what was seen to be how we should police," she said.   A message from the NJ Board of Public Utilities: New Jersey is on its way toward its goal of 100% clean energy by 2050. And you can help. Find out how New Jersey's Clean Energy Program can help businesses save energy and money with commercial clean energy incentives. High-value incentives and rebates on energy efficient improvements and appliances are also available from your utility company. You'll be saving more than money—you'll be helping to make the Garden State the Greenest State. Visit njcleanenergy.com.   HAPPY FRIDAY AFTERNOON — Hi there, I'm Jonathan Custodio, your Playbook PM author. We're adding New Jersey political trivia to this newsletter and will shout out one person who correctly answers the question in the following day's edition. Shout out to Christopher Jones for knowing there were 81 members (60 in the Assembly and 21 in the Senate) in the New Jersey legislature prior to the State Constitutional Convention of 1966. Today's question: What's the name of former Gov. Chris Christie's autobiography? Send answers and tips to jcustodio@politico.com. We're here with the latest from Trenton and elsewhere as New Jersey moves ahead in the budget process and the Legislature conducts hearings on Gov. Phil Murphy's spending plan. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY VOTING PRIVACY CONCERNS — Election officials and voter advocates are worried about voters' privacy after low turnout during early voting for Tuesday's primary elections, reports New Jersey Monitor's Nikita Biryukov. Executive director for the League of Women Voters of New Jersey Jesse Burns said low turnout — 20,230 early votes were casted in person — could lead to issues with protecting the secrecy of voters' ballots. "If you have a handful of votes in that district and somebody cross-references something like VAN, they might know who voted for what," she said. In a state with 6.4 million registered voters, 665,000 ballots have been cast thus far, as the election officials continue to tally how many people voted. COVID NUMBERS — New Jersey reported 3,041 confirmed positive Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths from the virus. The state's seven-day case average was down 7 percent from a week ago and up 4 percent from a month ago. ON THE BEATS CLIMATE — Long simmering tensions between New Jersey's main business group and the Murphy administration's climate policy burst into the open Thursday when a top lobbyist told lawmakers climate scientists have "good news" about climate change. That view, from Ray Cantor, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, drew immediate skepticism from Senate Environment and Energy Committee Chair Bob Smith. During a committee hearing in Trenton, where he was invited to testify generally about climate policy, Cantor used the phrase "good news" a half-dozen times to refer to scientific findings from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He cited certain elements of the panel's work he considered optimistic, such as suggestions the Earth would warm several degrees in the coming century — rather than far more than that. But that optimism is hard to reconcile with the panel's overall findings, which were that "human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe." Smith (D-Middlesex), who has shaped many of New Jersey's clean energy and climate change policies, immediately asked Cantor for scientific reports with findings to back up the optimism. "If they're in there, then you're in great shape," Smith said. "But if they're not, your credibility is going to be questioned." — Ry Rivard   A message from the NJ Board of Public Utilities:   Around New Jersey Bills to protect N.J. schools from threats advance in Assembly — by New Jersey Monitor's Sophie Nieto-Muñoz: "Two weeks after 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, lawmakers in New Jersey are taking steps they say will ensure the state's public schools are protected. "The Assembly Education Committee advanced three bills Thursday that would require more training for school security officers, provide law enforcement with maps of school buildings, and help school officials and students recognize threatening behavior." N.J. attorney general files fraud action against Capri Institute beauty school — by North Jersey's Nicholas Katzban: "This time, the only beauty school dropout was the school itself. Now, the state's top law enforcement agency is taking legal action on behalf of its 250 students. "The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General has filed charges in Superior Court alleging the Capri Institute, a cosmetology school, defrauded its students when it shuttered all four of its campuses with less then 48 hours notice, leaving enrollees with no paperwork to transfer to another school while allegedly pocketing their tuitions. "Concurrently, the state Cosmetology Board is seeking to decertify Capri and prohibit it from future operations in New Jersey." Odds and ends — This bread's for you, dad: a four-decades old bakery business will shut down its only two locations in Marlton and Maple Shade on Father's Day. — 10 gun safety events are planned throughout the state this weekend. — Barnegat Bay has one less abandoned boat in its waters.   A message from the NJ Board of Public Utilities: New Jersey is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution. Thanks to the enthusiastic participation of businesses, residents, local government, and many others across the state, New Jersey is well on its way toward reaching Governor Phil Murphy's ambitious goal of 100% clean energy by 2050. But there is still more to be done. Find out how New Jersey's Clean Energy Program can help you save energy and money. Visit njcleanenergy.com to learn about the available commercial and residential clean energy incentives, local government energy audits, and ways to save with high-value incentives and rebates from your local utility company on energy efficient improvements and appliances. You'll be doing a lot more than saving money on your energy bills—you'll be helping to make New Jersey the greenest state on the planet. Start saving right away—visit njcleanenergy.com today!     Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  California Playbook PM  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  New York Playbook PM View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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