NJ Assembly Committee Rejects Proposed Plan For More Diversity In Police Departments

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A plan to add more ethnic diversity within police departments in New Jersey was voted out of an Assembly committee on Thursday.

The measure would not only have put a plan in place to recruit more minorities into police departments statewide, but would have also tracked the numbers of those hired, WCBS 880's Levon Putney reported.

"And there's some agencies and municipalities and areas that do this already. So it's not like we would have to re-invent the wheel," said state Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly. "And you know, after falling short, this would put things in place to meet the requirements."

The Passaic County Democrat said it's about police departments reflecting the communities they serve, for their sake and for residents.

"Maybe more sensitive to the issues of our youth; to certain people in our community," said Wimberly.

Which the lawmaker said could help build better relationships between cops and minority neighborhoods, and possibly avoid the racial tensions seen in Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri.