LCO No. 3070 1 of 2
General Assembly Proposed Bill No. 708
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3070
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
SEN. WITKOS, 8th Dist.
AN ACT CONCERNING MENTAL HEALTH CARE AND WELLNESS
TRAINING AND SUICIDE PREVENTION FOR POLICE OFFICERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
That the general statutes be amended to: (1) Provide certain job 1
protections and assistance for specified public safety personnel, 2
including police officers, who seek or receive mental health services; 3
(2) prohibit municipalities or state agencies from discharging, 4
disciplining, discriminating against or penalizing (A) specified public 5
safety personnel because they seek or receive mental health services, 6
and (B) police officers who, while receiving mental health treatment, 7
return their firearms used in the performance of official duties to their 8
law enforcement unit; (3) require a law enforcement unit to return a 9
police officer's firearm used in the performance of the officer's official 10
duties when a licensed mental health provider, psychiatrist or 11
psychologist determines the officer is ready for duty; (4) require the 12
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to develop 13
and maintain a list of at least thirty mental health providers with 14
training in treating police officers and expertise in post-traumatic 15
stress disorder; (5) allow police officers who are diagnosed with post-16
traumatic stress disorder after being involved in a shooting or critical 17 Proposed Bill No. 708
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incident to return to work within a year of the incident under certain 18
conditions; (6) require the Police Officer Standards and Training 19
Council to develop a model policy to support the mental health and 20
wellness of police officers and require municipal police departments to 21
adopt a policy that meets or exceeds such model policy's standards; (7) 22
require the Division of State Police and Police Officer Standards and 23
Training Council, in consultation with the Department of Mental 24
Health and Addiction Services, to provide mental health care and 25
wellness training and training in crisis intervention techniques to 26
police officers hired on or after October 1, 2019; and (8) require the 27
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to establish 28
and maintain a database of police officers who died by suicide and 29
require each municipal police department to provide notice when one 30
of its officers dies by suicide. 31
Statement of Purpose:
To promote mental health and wellness training and suicide
prevention for police officers and other public safety personnel in the
state.