Democrats are in retreat on this one, Save Jerseyans, but law enforcement still loses out in the hyper-woke environment dominating New Jersey’s State House.
On Friday, Murphy signed a “clean up for the clean up” bill (A-5472/ S-3565) which will require New Jersey police to notify parents or guardians if writing if a minor is caught possessing or using pot or alcohol. The original “clean-up” law forbade police from notifying parents until a second offense which led to a general outcry. The notification process was adopted by the legislature after the original marijuana legalization package failed to provide ANY authority for police to cite or even warn minors using weed/booze.
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Today’s bill signing is some consolation for parents whose authority had been usurped by Trenton. This “improvement” may prove illusory when the rubber hits the road.
That’s because police officers are still severely hamstrung by the unfixed aspects of the original clean-up bill.
“The legislation is treacherous to you because it creates a penalty of 3rd Degree Deprivation of Civil Rights if an officer uses the odor or possession of marijuana or alcoholic beverages as the reason for initiating an investigatory stop of a person,” explained the state PBA in a February statement. “The new law states a law enforcement officer can not use the odor of marijuana or alcohol as reasonable articulable suspicion to initiate an investigatory stop. The new law states a minor CAN NOT consent to be searched and that a law enforcement officer no longer has probable cause to search a minor for illegally using marijuana or alcohol. And if an officer violates a minor’s rights by using pot or alcohol as the reason for a search then the officer will be charged with deprivation of civil rights.”
What does this tell you, folks?
Democrats need the suburbs to win, so they were willing to reverse course (a bit) to appease angry moms. They were NOT willing, however, to help the police whom they no longer consider part of their Democrat coalition.
Police unions take note. You’ve officially been dumped as if months of BLM protests and rhetoric didn’t make it obvious enough. It’s time to switch sides.
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