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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 410
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 2438
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A UNIT WITHIN THE DIVISION OF STATE
POLICE TO INVESTIGATE HATE CRIMES AND CRIMINAL ACTS
COMMITTED BY EXTREMI ST GROUPS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2020) There is established in the 1
Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services 2
and Public Protection a Hate Crimes and Extremist Group Investigative 3
Unit. The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection 4
shall assign to the unit such personnel as may be required to: 5
(1) Prevent, investigate and detect (A) any activity that may 6
constitute a crime that is a violation of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-7
181l of the general statutes, or any other crime that may be motivated by 8
bigotry or bias, and (B) any criminal activity by an extremist group; 9
(2) Analyze data and issue reports on (A) crimes that are violations 10
of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l of the general statutes, reported 11
to the unit pursuant to section 29-7m of the general statutes, as amended 12
by this act, (B) any other crimes that may be motivated by bigotry or 13
bias, and (C) any criminal activity by extremist groups; and 14 Raised Bill No. 410
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(3) Assist any law enforcement unit, as defined in section 7-294a of 15
the general statutes, with the investigation of (A) any alleged crime that 16
is a violation of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l of the general 17
statutes, or any other crime that may be motivated by bigotry or bias, 18
and (B) any criminal activity by an extremist group. 19
Sec. 2. Section 29-7m of the general statutes is repealed and the 20
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2020): 21
(a) [On and after July 1, 1988, the] The Hate Crimes and Extremist 22
Group Investigative Unit of the Division of State Police within the 23
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, established 24
under section 1 of this act, shall monitor, record and classify all crimes 25
committed in the state which are motivated by bigotry or bias. 26
(b) The police department, resident state trooper or constable who 27
performs law enforcement duties for each town shall monitor, record 28
and classify all crimes committed within such town which are violations 29
of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l and report such information to 30
the [Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency 31
Services and Public Protection] unit. 32
(c) Not later than October 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, the unit 33
shall publish a report on the department's Internet web site of (1) the 34
information compiled under subsections (a) and (b) of this section, and 35
(2) data and reports on the unit's activities under section 1 of this act. 36
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2020 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2020 29-7m
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a unit within the Division of State Police to investigate hate
crimes and criminal acts committed by extremist groups. Raised Bill No. 410
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[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.]