Patrick Colligan

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in New Jersey, a hot topic has been whether or not police officers should be allowed to get high on their day off.

Police departments that already were prohibited from having ticket or arrest quotas in New Jersey now cannot use such data to evaluate an officer’s job performance, under a state law enacted on Thursday.

Police officers would be allowed to view recordings from their body-worn cameras before filing initial reports on most incidents, under a bill endorsed by an Assembly panel Monday.

Going forward, every police department in New Jersey will be required to annually publish the names of officers who were fired, demoted or suspended for more than five days, including a summary of the misconduct and the sanction imposed.

First changes in 20 years to the use-of-force policy, which also limit high-speed chases, take effect at the start of 2022, after training is complete.

A law enacted in May reducing the maximum capacity of ammunition magazines in NJ prompted some departments to block cops from carrying guns off-duty.