General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5303
February Session, 2018 LCO No. 1811
*01811_______PS_*
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 5303
February Session, 2018
LCO No. 1811
*01811_______PS_*
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE ACCREDITATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS BY THE POLICE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING COUNCIL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 7-294d of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):
(a) The Police Officer Standards and Training Council shall have the following powers:
(1) To develop and periodically update and revise a comprehensive municipal police training plan;
(2) To approve, or revoke the approval of, any police training school and to issue certification to such schools and to revoke such certification;
(3) To set the minimum courses of study and attendance required and the equipment and facilities to be required of approved police training schools;
(4) To set the minimum qualifications for law enforcement instructors and to issue appropriate certification to such instructors;
(5) To require that all probationary candidates receive the hours of basic training deemed necessary before being eligible for certification, such basic training to be completed within one year following the appointment as a probationary candidate, unless the candidate is granted additional time to complete such basic training by the council;
(6) To require the registration of probationary candidates with the academy within ten days of hiring for the purpose of scheduling training;
(7) To issue appropriate certification to police officers who have satisfactorily completed minimum basic training programs;
(8) To require that each police officer satisfactorily complete at least forty hours of certified review training every three years in order to maintain certification, unless the officer is granted additional time not to exceed one year to complete such training by the council;
(9) To develop an interactive electronic computer platform capable of administering training courses and to authorize police officers to complete certified review training at a local police department facility by means of such platform;
(10) To renew the certification of those police officers who have satisfactorily completed review training programs;
(11) To establish uniform minimum educational and training standards for employment as a police officer in full-time positions, temporary or probationary positions and part-time or voluntary positions;
(12) To develop, in consultation with the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, a schedule to visit and inspect police basic training schools and to inspect each school at least once each year;
(13) To consult with and cooperate with universities, colleges and institutes for the development of specialized courses of study for police officers in police science and police administration;
(14) To work with the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection and with departments and agencies of this state and other states and the federal government concerned with police training;
(15) To make recommendations to the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection concerning a training academy administrator, who shall be appointed by the commissioner, and concerning the hiring of staff, within available appropriations, that may be necessary in the performance of its functions;
(16) To perform any other acts that may be necessary and appropriate to carry out the functions of the council as set forth in sections 7-294a to 7-294e, inclusive;
(17) To accept, with the approval of the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, contributions, grants, gifts, donations, services or other financial assistance from any governmental unit, public agency or the private sector;
(18) To conduct any inspection and evaluation that may be necessary to determine if a law enforcement unit is complying with the provisions of this section;
(19) At the request and expense of any law enforcement unit, to conduct general or specific management surveys;
(20) To develop objective and uniform criteria for recommending any waiver of regulations or granting a waiver of procedures established by the council;
(21) To recruit, select and appoint candidates to the position of probationary candidate, as defined in section 7-294a, and provide recruit training for candidates of the Connecticut Police Corps program in accordance with the Police Corps Act, 42 USC 14091 et seq., as amended from time to time;
(22) To develop, adopt and revise, as necessary, comprehensive accreditation standards and minimum accreditation standards for the administration and management of law enforcement units, to grant accreditation to those law enforcement units that demonstrate their compliance with such standards and, at the request and expense of any law enforcement unit, to conduct such surveys as may be necessary to determine such unit's compliance with such standards; and
(23) To recommend to the commissioner the appointment of any council training instructor, or such other person as determined by the council, to act as a special police officer throughout the state as such instructor or other person's official duties may require, provided any such instructor or other person so appointed shall be a certified police officer. Each such special police officer shall be sworn and may arrest and present before a competent authority any person for any offense committed within the officer's precinct.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2018) (a) The Police Officer Standards and Training Council established under section 7-294b of the general statutes shall develop, adopt and revise, as necessary, minimum accreditation standards for the administration and management of law enforcement units, as defined in section 7-294a of the general statutes. Such minimum accreditation standards shall be based upon current internationally recognized standards of excellence in law enforcement and shall include, but need not be limited to, standards regarding fair and impartial policing, use of force, response to crimes of family violence, use of body-worn recording equipment, complaints that allege misconduct by police officers, use of electronic defense weapons, eyewitness identification procedures, notifications in death and related events and pursuits by police officers. The council shall post such minimum accreditation standards on the council's Internet web site and disseminate such standards to law enforcement units. The council shall develop a process to review and access a law enforcement unit's compliance with such minimum accreditation standards.
(b) On and after January 1, 2019, a law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the minimum accreditation standards developed by the council pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation developed by the council or The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.
Sec. 3. Section 14-283a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):
(a) As used in this section, "police officer" means a sworn member of an organized local police department or a state police officer, which member or officer is assigned to patrol duties on public streets or highways, and "pursuit" means an attempt by a police officer in an authorized emergency vehicle to apprehend any occupant of another moving motor vehicle, when the driver of the fleeing vehicle is attempting to avoid apprehension by maintaining or increasing the speed of such vehicle or by ignoring the police officer's attempt to stop such vehicle.
(b) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in conjunction with the Chief State's Attorney, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and the Connecticut Coalition of Police and Correctional Officers, shall adopt in accordance with chapter 54 a uniform, state-wide policy for handling pursuits by police officers. Such policy shall specify: (1) The conditions under which a police officer may engage in a pursuit and discontinue a pursuit, (2) alternative measures to be employed by any such police officer in order to apprehend any occupant of the fleeing motor vehicle or to impede the movement of such motor vehicle, (3) the coordination and responsibility, including control over the pursuit, of supervisory personnel and the police officer engaged in such pursuit, (4) in the case of a pursuit that may proceed and continue into another municipality, (A) the requirement to notify and the procedures to be used to notify the police department in such other municipality or, if there is no organized police department in such other municipality, the officers responsible for law enforcement in such other municipality, that there is a pursuit in progress, and (B) the coordination and responsibility of supervisory personnel in each such municipality and the police officer engaged in such pursuit, (5) the type and amount of training in pursuits, that each police officer shall undergo, which may include training in vehicle simulators, if vehicle simulator training is determined to be necessary, and (6) that a police officer immediately notify supervisory personnel or the officer in charge after the police officer begins a pursuit. The chief of police or Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, as the case may be, shall inform each officer within such chief's or said commissioner's department and each officer responsible for law enforcement in a municipality in which there is no such department of the existence of the policy of pursuit to be employed by any such officer and shall take whatever measures that are necessary to assure that each such officer understands the pursuit policy established.
(c) Not later than January fifteenth following each calendar year in which a police officer engages in a pursuit, the chief of police or the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, as the case may be, shall submit an annual report to the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division within the Office of Policy and Management regarding each such pursuit. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, the name of the police officer who engaged in the pursuit, the time and place of the pursuit, the reason for engaging in the pursuit, a description of what occurred during the pursuit and the names of any known victims or witnesses of the pursuit.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2018 7-294d(a)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2018 New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2018 14-283a
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
October 1, 2018
7-294d(a)
Sec. 2
October 1, 2018
New section
Sec. 3
October 1, 2018
14-283a
Statement of Purpose:
To (1) require law enforcement units to receive and maintain minimum accreditation standards developed by the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, and (2) require the chief of police or Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection to submit an annual report regarding pursuits by police officers.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]