Enhancing Procedural Justness of Encounters Through Substantiation( EPJETS): Improving Citizens’ Perceptions of the Police Through an Innovative Interaction Protocol
February 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 32
Enhancing Procedural Justness of Encounters Through Substantiation( EPJETS): Improving Citizens’ Perceptions of the Police Through an Innovative Interaction Protocol
Nusret M. Sahin, Ph. D., James Sarkos, MA, Joel M. Caplan, Ph. D., and Ashley Schroeder, MA
The Enhancing Procedural Justness of Encounters through Substantiation( EPJETS) project came out of a growing need to strengthen and rebuild the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. The goal was to introduce a new communication-based strategy that not only helps de-escalate tense situations but also builds public trust and promotes that every interaction is fair, respectful, and lawful. This strategy is grounded in procedural justice, a theory that suggests that people interacting with criminal justice agents highly value fairness in procedures. This study is the first and only randomized controlled trial in the US to examine how procedural justice influences citizens’ perceptions during traffic stops.
One of the key elements of this research was the usage of a procedurally just script, developed with insight from other procedural justice research as well as input from Atlantic City police officers. Our approach suggests a respectful two-way interaction in which parties attempt to understand each other’ s perspectives. Body-Worn Cameras( BWC) footage is also made accessible to people who have been stopped as a strategy for positive interaction.
Randomized Controlled Trial Design and Implementation This research was conducted with the Atlantic City Police Department( ACPD) and Pleasantville Police Department( PPD), which are both located in the southern part of New Jersey. Atlantic City is a tourist town, and although the city’ s population is 40,000 residents, it attracts 25 million visitors annually. The constant influx of people due to tourism makes policing in the city challenging because of constantly changing visitor profiles. ACPD employs 297 sworn officers. Pleasantville, employing 62 full-time officers, is located 5 miles away from Atlantic City and shares many of its characteristics.
Research Design EPJETS implementation during traffic stops included: i) utilizing traffic crash data analysis to deploy officers at high-risk traffic crash locations, ii) communicating the purpose of the traffic stops with drivers in a procedurally just manner, iii) recording and sharing BWC footage of interactions with the individual being stopped, and iv) sharing traffic crash statistics and maps. The EPJETS script included two unique aspects: an explanation of how data-driven enforcement policies inform decisions and the accessibility of the BWC footage, allowing individuals to see the recording of their interaction. Officers who were interested in taking part in the program received procedural justice training and engaged in practice sessions to familiarize themselves with script; Officers did not read the script verbatim as that could be perceived as inauthentic. Towards the end of the interaction, a code was given to the driver to view the interaction footage. Per officers’ suggestions, this code expired after being used 5 times to prevent improper usage.