April 2026 | The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine 4
FROM THE PRESIDENT ' S DESK
Chief Andrew Caggiano
Montville Police Department
The new legislative session has begun, and our Government Affairs committee including Michael Turner and Chief Conrad Pepperman have been monitoring the legislature for the introduction of any new bills concerning law enforcement. I have already visited Trenton and testified in opposition of two bills before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The first bill S3114 bans law enforcement from wearing masks with certain exceptions. We opposed the legislation and requested additional amendments to help protect and safeguard our officers. I am happy to report that our requested amendments are all made in both the Senate and Assembly Bills. This bill was recently signed into law by Governor Sherrill.
The second bill was S5038 codifying the Immigrant Trust Directive. I testified in opposition to this bill as well. We were seeking amendments to ensure New Jersey Law Enforcement and ICE can communicate effectively and share public safety information. This bill was signed by the Governor, unfortunately our amendments were not included.
The Government Affairs Committee discovered a new bill this month that had been introduced in the assembly which called for a task force to review juvenile detention. This has been an issue that we have been working on with the Prosecutors and Sheriffs Association. We discovered that our Association was not included in the bill. Michael Turner reached out to the Assemblywoman who introduced the bill to express our concern. I showed up for the hearing on the bill and expressed our opposition to the bill unless we were included in the task force. The Assemblywoman made an amendment at the hearing, and it passed to include us in this task force.
I had the opportunity to speak before the membership at the PBA Mini Convention. I spoke of the partnership between our Association and the PBA on several issues. When we worked together, we have been able to make positive changes for this profession.
The time of year has come, as we look forward to the 2026 New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Police Security Expo. The 1 st Vice President and his conference committee are hard at work on this year’ s conference. Please look out for registration to the conference as we will swear in Chief Carey and the rest of the Board of Officers.
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