New Jersey
New Jersey has licensed law enforcement officers through the Police Training Commission (PTC) since January 1, 2024. The Commission must revoke a license for listed convictions and report revocations and denials to the National Decertification Index. Since then the State has put core use-of-force principles into statute, required public use-of-force data, and barred officers from wearing masks with the public.
- Sources checked
At a glance
- Certifying body
- Police Training Commission (PTC), in the Division of Criminal Justice, acting through a licensing committee. It licenses all sworn State, county, and municipal officers, including State Police, correctional police, parole officers, special law enforcement officers, and campus and NJ Transit police. The PTC has “sole authority” over licensure requirements (N.J.S.A. 52:17B-72(b), P.L.2022, c.65).
- Statute
- N.J.S.A. 52:17B-66 et seq. (Police Training Act), as amended by P.L.2022, c.65 (licensing: 52:17B-67.1, 71a to 71h, 77.16a). Use-of-force policy principles and public reporting: 52:17B-4.14 to 4.16 (P.L.2025, c.243). Masks and identification: 52:17B-236.9 to 236.13 (P.L.2026, c.3). PTC licensing rules were adopted August 10, 2023.
- Minimum standards
- Requirements include: age 18; U.S. citizenship “if required for the position”; high school or GED; fingerprints; medical and psychological exams; good moral character; basic training; a drug screen; a driver’s license; and no dishonorable discharge. Disqualifiers include any crime, domestic violence, an offense barring firearm possession, dishonesty-related disorderly persons offenses, two or more DWI or reckless-driving offenses, restraining orders, and bias conduct, including on social media. The Commission “may waive” the dishonesty and driving disqualifiers if the convictions are 5 or more years old, the applicant shows rehabilitation, and 3 character letters are submitted. Applicants must not be listed in the National Decertification Index (52:17B-71b).
- Decertification
- The Commission may suspend, restrict, revoke, condition, or inactivate a license on 11 grounds. These include fraud, a conviction, domestic violence, licensing action elsewhere, sustained findings of untruthfulness, false reports, mishandled evidence, or bias, and disciplinary suspension or discharge (52:17B-71e). It “shall revoke” for a crime, domestic violence, or a firearm-disqualifying offense. Decisions can be appealed to the Superior Court.
- Public decertification list
- No statutory list found. Agency reports of separations and sustained findings to the PTC are not public records just because they are filed (52:17B-77.16a). Under an Attorney General directive, not a statute, the AG publishes annual major-discipline reports that name individual officers, their suspensions, and the sustained charges.
- National Decertification Index
- Reporting required by statute. The Commission “shall report all final decisions to revoke or deny licensure” to the Index (52:17B-71e(h)).
- Continuing training
- The Commission “shall, by regulation,” require periodic continuing education as a condition of continued employment (52:17B-71g). A license expires 3 years after issuance. Initial licenses for officers already serving were randomly issued for 1, 2, or 3 years to stagger renewals; after the first renewal, all licenses run 3 years. The hour requirement could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
Changes, 2023 to 2026
No masks with the public; identification required before a detention or arrest
The act covers any federal, State, county, or municipal officer. An officer “shall not wear a mask or disguise when interacting with the public” on duty. Exceptions include undercover or tactical operations, a threat of retaliation, clear face shields, medical-grade or N95 masks, smoke during a State of Emergency or cold during a weather emergency, and biological or chemical agents. Every officer “shall provide sufficient identification prior to detaining or arresting” someone: a uniform with insignia, a photo ID card, a numbered badge, or stating name and agency. The ID duty does not apply if it would compromise an authorized investigation, a supervisor decides stealth is needed, or the officer reasonably fears for their safety. The AG “shall” issue guidelines or a directive. The act has no penalty provision.
For officers: Identify yourself before you detain or arrest someone, and do not cover your face unless an exception applies.
Licensed officers may serve as probationary State or county investigators while trained
A permanent licensed officer with an active basic-course certification “may” get a probationary or temporary appointment as a State or county investigator for up to 120 days while training as a basic investigator. The appointment “shall remain in force” until the Commission acts on the license application, but the matching 52:17B-67.1 exception lets the officer act as an investigator for no more than 120 days from appointment. A matching exception was added to the ban on acting beyond the scope of a license.
For officers: You can start work as an investigator while your new license is pending.
Use-of-force policy principles in statute; public use-of-force data
The AG “shall” review the statewide use-of-force policy every even-numbered year and hold 3 regional public hearings each time. Revisions must be “in furtherance of” core principles: the sanctity of life; reasonable measures, including de-escalation, before force; force only when objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional, with deadly force as a last resort; and duties such as intervening, giving medical aid, and reporting. The statute does not itself impose these duties on officers; the AG policy does. The AG “shall” post compiled use-of-force data on a public website, and issue guidelines on barricaded individuals. The PTC “shall” include barricaded-individual training in all basic courses.
For officers: Your agency’s force reports feed a public statewide dataset.
Statewide officer licensing takes effect
No one “shall” be employed as a law enforcement officer without a valid, active PTC license. The act sets license requirements, a 3-year term, grounds for adverse action, mandatory revocation for listed convictions, hearings, and Index reporting. Agencies must report appointments, separations, and listed discipline or sustained findings to the PTC within 2 business days. Non-disclosure agreements that hide why an officer left are barred. Officers already serving got initial licenses without fees and cannot be denied based only on discipline for conduct before the act. Under the PTC rules, a Licensing Committee recommends adverse actions, hearing officers hear appeals, and agencies “must terminate, suspend, or refuse employment” to anyone whose license is denied, revoked, or suspended.
For officers: You need an active PTC license to work, and you must renew it.
AG may appoint an untrained officer in charge when superseding a police agency
The act applies only to a first-class city under 200,000 people. On superseding its police agency, the AG “may” appoint as officer in charge a former superior officer with at least 10 years of supervisory experience who has not met PTC training requirements. Tailored training must be finished within 1 year, and the appointee is then “deemed eligible to be licensed.” The act ends when the supersession ends; whether the supersession continues could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
For officers: This narrow exception applies only to a single superseded agency.
Not yet in force and pending
- PTC social media rules: proposed in the New Jersey Register on January 16, 2024. Applicants would disclose social media accounts; current officers would give access only on probable cause of a violation. Whether they were adopted could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026. AG release
- AG guidelines under P.L.2026, c.3: required by the mask and identification law. Whether they have been issued could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
Pending 2026–2027 bills were not reviewed.
Checked and unchanged
- No New Jersey statute on Brady or Giglio disclosure lists was enacted from 2023 to 2026.
- P.L.2024, c.16 (the 2024 public records overhaul) has no provision specific to officer misconduct or internal affairs records.
- The AG’s Use of Force Policy page lists revisions of the policy and Addendum A in September 2025 and of Addendum C (barricaded individuals) in April 2025. The duty to intercede dates from the 2020 policy. The revised text was not compared, and no effective date is printed, so these are not counted.
- The AG’s major-discipline page says “AG Directive 2021-6 went into effect on June 15, 2020.” The conflict in that date is on the page itself.
- Not counted: P.L.2026, c.5 (immigrant trust directive and training); P.L.2025, c.401; P.L.2025, c.246 (crowd-management training); P.L.2025, c.342 (bias-incident guidelines); and P.L.2023, c.322.
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “New Jersey officer certification: Officer Certification Tracker,” uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/new-jersey (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.