Blue State’s Lawmakers Push To Free Police From Dem AG’s Stranglehold
A bipartisan coalition of New Jersey lawmakers are moving to establish the state police as an independent department reporting directly to the governor — taking it away from Democratic state Attorney General Matthew…
A bipartisan coalition of New Jersey lawmakers are moving to establish the state police as an independent department reporting directly to the governor — taking it away from Democratic state Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s oversight.
The measure — introduced both in the state Assembly and Senate — would allocate all state police resources out of the attorney general’s Department of Law and Public Safety and recreate the force as a standalone cabinet agency. Supporters argue it will free state police from the attorney general’s alleged micromanagement.
“I don’t think a politically-appointed lawyer who does not know anything about policing should be the person responsible for the State Police to report to,” Democratic state Sen. James Beach, the bill’s main sponsor, told Politico.
Neither Beach or Platkin’s office responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Republican Sen. Anthony Bucco and Robert Singer frame the plan as a cure for bureaucratic drag. Bucco said promotions now “take a long time to get approved … because the attorney general’s office is enormous,” while Singer quipped that Platkin “hasn’t missed poking anybody in the eye, from the governor on down,” according