Attorney General Matt Platkin is changing the state’s use of force policy and setting new guidelines for how police respond to certain mental health calls. The directive comes just weeks after the fatal police shooting of a Fort Lee woman who was barricaded in her apartment amid a mental health crisis.
The family of 25-year-old Victoria Lee called 911 for help, but then repeatedly asked that police not come or enter the home. The state says the new directive is intended to “slow and stabilize” encounters between police and barricaded people. With changes slated to take effect as early as this October.
“I first announced that we were going to create this policy in 2023 when I took over the Paterson Police Department. And it’s not in a reaction to any one incident,” said Platkin.
“But what has been clear from our work overseeing the fatal police encounter investigations, as well as through our work through Arrive Together where we have the first-in-the-country statewide alternative response to incidents of mental health crises. We have seen that if we provide law enforcement officers with the tools and resources that they need to do their job. We don’t ask them to do everything and be everything all at once, that we can resolve these incidents safely, peacefully, that gets people the help they need and without injury, either to the civilian involved or to the officer.”
