In the wake of civil unrest across the United States over the death of civilians at the hands of police, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the state of New Jersey seeking to increase self-defense training for law enforcement officers in order to provide an alternative to the use of lethal force.

The bill would increase self-defense training at the police academy to 148 hours of practice time from its current 40 hours. In addition, active duty police officers would be required to do 104 hours of additional training every year as long as they remain on the job.