Attorney General Paula Dow is reworking guidelines for tracking police misconduct allegations, which are collected annually by her office but have been hampered by inaccurate record keeping. “We’ll be announcing some study on a statewide basis to address how the information is gathered and how it is used,” Dow said. “At a minimum, the directions for the usage and accounting should be clearer and will be clearer.”

Dow will convene a task force including members of her office and police leaders from around the state, said her spokesman, Paul Loriquet. He did not give a timeline.

Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey, hopes a review of how statistics are collected and scrutinized is only a starting point for the state’s examination.

“This is a good babystep,” she said. “But we need a much broader review of the internal affairs policy and the enforcement of it.”

The Star-Ledger reported last month that statewide records from 2000 to 2008 show 90,423 complaints recorded but only 86,925 dispositions. That means the outcomes of almost 4 percent of cases — whether the complaint resulted in disciplinary action or not — are not available in mandatory public reports. Read full article in Star Ledger.