I carry a copy of NJ Ch. 39, especially 2c:39-6g preciselt for this reason. If find often police officers don't know their own state laws as they are convoluted and lengthy.
But, I would not accept the police violating their own state law lightly at all. I'm a lawsuit machine. Drop of a hat I'll rock-n-roll. While some may abhor me for this, I don't do it arbitrarily or carpiciously. Destroying a man's lifelong record of good character is a very serious matter. The arrest would be bad enough but if the DA continued to prosecute with full knowledge the law wasn't violated it would become an egregious, malicious, willful, wanton and reckless act under civil law. It changes the cause of action from one of pure misfeasance to include malfeasance and now takes on the element of intent under civil law. This means the state can be treated as if they intended to cause the harm that followed. The door is now opened for punitive damages in addition to pecuniary, compensatory and consequential damages. Give me the opoortunity to make money from you and it will be ruthless. Spending the money isn't much of a concern. To me it's an investment on a bigger payout. It's the poor sucker that gets slammed by this, not people like me. And we all must remember, this can happen to anyone, anywhere, in any state.