The Speaker

Commissioner Ship serves on the New Jersey Police Training Commission. He is responsible for the development and certification of basic training courses for county and local police, sheriffs' officers, state and county investigators, state and county corrections officers, and juvenile detention officers.
Commissioner Ship served over 25 years in the field of law enforcement. Serving on the Edison Police Department assigned to the community-policing unit, where he organized several community oriented policing initiatives and neighborhood watch programs to reduce the occurrence of criminal activity and anti-social behavior and participated in undercover operations.
Commissioner Ship has received numerous awards and commendations for his many years of dedicated service and achievements as a law enforcement officer, as well as for his countless hours of community service.
In 2018, Commissioner Ship was appointed by New Jersey Governor Murphy to the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission created by the Legislature to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system.
He served as the 34th President of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and is currently President of NOBLE New Jersey.

The Workshop

Unintended Consequences of Menthol Bans and Prohibitions : Wednesday, September 29, 2021 01:00P

Several states and municipalities are proposing to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes. Smoking is bad and tobacco kills in addition to the debilitating effects of nicotine addiction and need to prevent youth from smoking. Prohibitions and flavor bans have been spotlights in the national media. This proposal seems race-neutral. But over 85% of African Americans who choose to smoke prefer menthol cigarettes while most White tobacco consumers prefer unflavored tobacco. To draw up a ban only against products favored by people of color seems not only unjust but also remarkably insensitive. Giving officers even more reason to detain and engage on the basis of a flavored tobacco ban, including menthol, would assuredly lead to encounters that are likely to escalate to the unnecessary use of force, arrests, and possibly deadly force. This workshop will explore the laudable intent of the public health community to decrease the use of tobacco products by communities of color, address the serious concerns of youth using tobacco products, and how to stem the tide of youth use of e-cigarettes.