Attorney General Gurbir Grewal Keynote Speech to New Jersey Conference of Mayor’s Winter Summit.

Earlier this month I celebrated my first full year as Attorney General.

And the longer I’ve been in Trenton the more I’ve come to realize one basic truth, the best ideas in New Jersey don’t come from our state’s capital.

They come from our state’s diverse communities. And they come from each of you. From Jersey City to the Jersey Shore. From the Highlands to the Pinelands – It’s all of you.

Our mayors and municipal leaders who are responsible for addressing the day-to-day concerns of all New Jerseyans.

After all, you’re the ones who have the most direct and immediate contact and impact with the lives of our fellow citizens.

And you’re the ones pushing forward with creativity, with energy and with a deep commitment to public service.

And that’s exactly why I wanted to speak with all of you this morning. I believe that our state and local governments have a meaningful role to play in the lives of our residents. And I know that we must do more. More to strengthen the public’s confidence in what we do.

And there’s one relationship in particular that I’m focused on and that I want to discuss with you today. And that’s the relationship between your local police department and your community.

You see, over the past few years a number of well-publicized incidents from across the country have drawn attention to this issue.

And it’s clear that we must do more to strengthen the ties between our law enforcement officers and our communities.

And I certainly understand both sides of this issue.

I’ve spent a majority of my career in law enforcement. I’ve served as a federal prosecutor, as a state prosecutor, and as a county prosecutor.

I’ve worked with hundreds of law enforcement officers. From FBI agents, to State Troopers, to local beat cops.

I respect how difficult their jobs are. I respect how deeply they care about doing the right thing and I respect the sacrifices that they make to keep us safe each and every day.

But I also understand the other side of the issue. I know that many in marginalized communities feel that their concerns are not being heard.

That they believe that they are being singled out because of what they look like or who they love or what they wear. They look at our law enforcement agencies and when they don’t see people who look like them they ask whether these agencies will fully and truly understand their problems.

Now I understand that, as mayors, there’s only so much that each of you can do to address these issues.

A lot of the responsibility falls on law enforcement agencies – including the Attorney General’s office. And I can assure you that we’re doing our part every day to make meaningful progress.

But there are certainly things you can do. And so in my remarks today I’d like to propose four practical ideas. They’re straightforward suggestions that you can take back to your towns so you can start working on building trust now before an incident happens or to avoid one altogether.

The first thing I would suggest, is invest in body cameras. I know that they can be expensive. And I know that the cost of storing body camera footage is substantial. But it’s worth it.

I have supervised during the course of my career hundreds of investigations involving interactions between law enforcement and it’s citizens. And when witnesses have different recollections of what transpired, that camera footage can provide an objective view of the incident. And this is especially helpful when an officer is accused of misconduct.

It allows each of you and it allows the community to understand more clearly what transpired.

And since body cams usually filming well before and conitinue filming well after the incident you can sometimes get the full context of what transpired.

And oftentimes that’s much more useful than a 10-second video clip filmed on a bystander on their cell phone. And the fact of the matter is that increasingly juries are expecting body camera footage and in the years ahead it may be difficult to obtain convictions in hard cases without it.

And one other important point:The footage is helpful not just when an officer is accused of misconduct but also when an officer has acted appropriately.

Think back to last year when a pair of police officers in Tenafly pulled over a teenage driver and then her mom, then a Port Authority Commissioner showed up and tried to throw her weight around.The cops handled that situation exactly how they should have.

And the world got to see something that the media doesn’t often show us – something that happens each and every day, thousands of times across this state. Police officers acting with dignity, with restraint, and with professionalism.

In fact, everyone, everyone behaves better when they know they’re on camera.

My second suggestion to each of you is to demand accountability from your police chiefs. There are few positions in each of your towns more important than the chief of your police department. And regardless of whether you hired that chief yourself or simply inherited him or her from a prior mayor you should hold that person to a high standard.

Ask your police chiefs: What are they doing to strengthen police-community relations?

Ask your police chiefs, what they’re doing to build relationships between the most marginalized communities in your town?

What are they doing to track the use of force by officers in your town?

What are they doing to ensure that you have officers in your departments that reflect the diversity of the community you serve?

And what are you doing to ensure that our officers are among the best trained in the state?

Trained to address issues like implicit bias. Trained to help those suffering from addiction. Trained to de-escalate crisis situations. Let the members of your police force know that all of these issues are important to you and the community.

Set clear expectations. Demand clear commitments. And make clear that you expect meaningful progress.

Now I know this because I’ve worked with them. The truth is most police chiefs understand how important these issues are. How they are essential to effective policing today. And they know that their jobs involve more than locking people up.

But it’s also easy for them to get caught up in the day-to-day work of running a police department and that’s where each of you come in as mayors. It’s important for your chiefs to receive regular reminders from each of you that these issues are important to you and must be a priority for your communities.

My third suggestion: Take a long, hard look at your municipal fines and fees.

Now, I get it. Most of our towns are strapped for cash and no one, I hope, wants to raise taxes.

So, in recent years, many towns have tried to close their budget gaps by increasing fines and fees. And I’m not here to second-guess your decisions.But I ask that you look carefully, very carefully at the impact that these fines are having in and around your community.

You see, most fines don’t vary on an individuals ability to pay and that means that the most vulnerable members of our community often have the hardest time paying them off.

And as a result, it’s easy for those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder to get trapped in a vicious cycle. Of fines, followed by contempt citations, followed by arrest warrants, followed by more fines.

This cycle is not good for anyone. It creates a sense of hopelessness. It breeds resentment. And it does not generate any additional revenue for your municipality.

If you have any doubt, any doubt about what I’m talking about here take the time to read the 2015 Justice Department report about the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

That report makes absolutely clear how the Ferguson city government saw its residents – not as people – but as sources of revenue. So when a tragic officer-involved shooting took place in Ferguson there was a complete absence of trust between police and community and that gap in trust quickly filled with anger—an anger that led to sustained rioting.

That report shows you what can happen if you let the problems I’m describing fester. And in the long run that can be much, much more expensive than whatever money you can raise from municipal fines and fees.

And here’s my final suggestion: Don’t just talk, listen. 

It’s the simplest solution of all. It’s the cheapest as well and it’s probably the most important thing I’ll share with you this morning. The only way we strengthen relationships is by cultivating them. No amount of legislation can do that for you.

And the only way to cultivate those relationships is by talking to each other and by listening to each other and by learning from each other.

Shortly after I became Attorney General last year, I started what I called the 21 21 Project. A “21-County, 21st Century Community Policing Project,” and each quarter, I required our state’s 21 County Prosecutors to host a community meeting on a pre-selected topic. That’s 84 required, community meetings across the state – at a minimum each year.

So far, we’ve hosted meetings to discuss officer-involved shooting investigations, the state’s opioid crisis, immigration enforcement, and bias crimes. I’ve made a point of attending at least one event in every county across the state.

And when I talk to our County Prosecutors about 21/21, I tell them to get out of their comfort zones. Don’t host the event in your office, don’t host them in the police department, don’t host them in City Hall. Go to that church basement, go to that VFW hall, that community center. Go to where the people are.

And it doesn’t matter how many people show up. I’ve attended events with more than 200 people and less than 20 people.

The important thing is to just show up.

Sometimes, when I go to these events, I don’t go with prepared remarks I just tell the residents that I’m here to hear what’s bothering them. How can we make their lives better? It has been an extremely rewarding experience for me.

And as mayors, I have no doubt that you regularly host town halls with your constituents.

But I recommend that you take the time to host events specifically on police/community trust – hop in the car with your police chief and go to wherever the community feels most comfortable airing their concerns.

These simple conversations are the building blocks of trust. The type of trust that will reduce the likelihood of an incident happening in your town. And the type of trust that can help you quickly—

And effectively address an incident if something does unfortunately happen.

I don’t claim to have all the answers here.  And I suspect that many of you are already doing some of the things I’ve just discussed. But again there are few relationships more important than the one between your police department and your residents and there is always more we can do to strengthen that relationship.

Mayors: this issue matters to me deeply—

And is one of my top priorities as Attorney General. So, please know that my office is here for each of you.

We’re always happy to sit down with you and leaders from across the state to brainstorm ways to improve our communities. And we’re always happy to come to your towns to talk about these issues.

I know that, as mayors, you don’t always have the easiest job. And our state faces significant challenges. But we won’t be able to meet them unless the public believes that our institutions are up to the task. There is much work to be done. But I also know that there is much we can accomplish together. And I’m excited about the tasks and challenges ahead, I’m excited to help forge stronger relationships between government and its citizens and to help all of us build a state that we can truly be proud of.

Thank you.