DRAFT
Action INTR 03/02/2021 12:13 AM
Attorney CNS
Working Draft Final
LCO Number New
Needed by 3/2/2021 12:00 PM
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Instructions
CopyDoc of LCO #4246, final,
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LCO No. 4342 1 of 8
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6597
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4342
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT CONCERNING AC CREDITATION, REPORTING
REQUIREMENTS, MENTAL HEALTH, DATA STORAG E SERVICES
AND TRAINING OF LAW ENFO RCEMENT OFFICERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-294ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) [Until December 31, 2024, the] The Police Officer Standards and 3
Training Council, established under section 7-294b, and the 4
Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the 5
commissioner's designee, shall jointly develop, adopt and revise, as 6
necessary, minimum standards and practices for the administration, 7 DRAFT
LCO No. 4342 2 of 8
[and] management and operation of law enforcement units, as defined 8
in section 7-294a. Such minimum standards and practices shall be based 9
upon standards established by the International Association of Chiefs of 10
Police and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement 11
Agencies, Inc., and shall include, but need not be limited to, standards 12
and practices regarding bias-based policing, use of force, response to 13
crimes of family violence, use of body-worn recording equipment, 14
complaints that allege misconduct by police officers, use of electronic 15
defense weapons, eyewitness identification procedures, notifications in 16
death and related events and pursuits by police officers and compliance 17
with the reporting procedures outlined by the council in guidance 18
regarding subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 7-294 and the 19
implementation of public act 20-1 of the July special session. The 20
minimum standards and practices shall be divided into three tiers, 21
known as tier one, tier two and tier three. Tier one shall consist of 22
minimum standards and practices designed to protect law enforcement 23
units from liability, enhance the delivery of services and improve public 24
confidence in law enforcement units. Tier two shall consist of minimum 25
standards and practices for the administration, management and 26
operation of law enforcement units. Tier three shall consist of higher 27
minimum standards and practices for the administration, management 28
and operation of law enforcement units. The council shall post [such] 29
the minimum standards and practices of each tier on the council's 30
Internet web site and disseminate [such] the minimum standards and 31
practices of each tier to law enforcement units. The council and 32
commissioner or the commissioner's designee shall jointly develop a 33
process to review a law enforcement unit's compliance with [such] the 34
minimum standards and practices of each tier and issue a certificate of 35
compliance with [law enforcement] the minimum standards and 36
practices of tier one, tier two or tier three, as the case may be, to a law 37
enforcement unit that meets or exceeds [such] the minimum standards 38
and practices of such tier. 39
(b) On and after January 1, [2019] 2022, and until December 31, [2024] 40
2023, each law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the 41
minimum standards and practices of tier one developed by the council 42 DRAFT
LCO No. 4342 3 of 8
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of 43
accreditation standards developed by the council or the Commission on 44
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 45
(c) On and after January 1, 2023, and until December 31, 2024, each 46
law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the minimum 47
standards and practices of tier two developed by the council pursuant 48
to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation 49
standards developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation 50
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 51
[(c)] (d) On and after January 1, 2025, each law enforcement unit shall 52
[obtain and maintain accreditation] adopt and maintain (1) the 53
minimum standards and practices of tier three developed by the council 54
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of 55
accreditation standards developed by the Commission on Accreditation 56
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 57
(e) If a law enforcement unit fails to [obtain] adopt or maintain [such 58
accreditation] the minimum standards and practices or a higher level of 59
accreditation standards developed by the council or the Commission on 60
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., in accordance with 61
the provisions of subsections (b) to (d), inclusive, of this subsection, the 62
council shall work with the law enforcement unit to [obtain] assist such 63
unit to adopt and maintain [such] the minimum standards and practices 64
or the higher level of accreditation standards. 65
(f) If a law enforcement unit fails to comply with the reporting 66
procedures outlined by the council in guidance regarding subdivision 67
(2) of subsection (c) of section 7-294 and the implementation of public 68
act 20-1 of the July special session, (1) the council may recommend to 69
the Office of Policy and Management and the Secretary of the Office of 70
Policy and Management may order an appropriate penalty in the form 71
of the withholding of state funds from such law enforcement unit, and 72
(2) the council may revoke the certificate of compliance with the 73
minimum standards and practices of tier one, tier two or tier three, as 74
the case may be, issued pursuant to this section. 75 DRAFT
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[(d)] (g) No civil action may be brought against a law enforcement 76
unit for damages arising from the failure of the law enforcement unit to 77
[(1)] adopt and maintain [such] the minimum standards and practices 78
or a higher level of accreditation standards developed by the council or 79
the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc, 80
pursuant to [subsection] subsections (b) to (d), inclusive, of this section. 81
[, or (2) obtain and maintain accreditation by the Commission on 82
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., pursuant to 83
subsection (c) of this section.] 84
Sec. 2. Subdivision (22) of subsection (a) of section 7-294d of the 85
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 86
thereof (Effective from passage): 87
(22) (A) [Until December 31, 2024, to] To develop, adopt and revise, 88
as necessary, comprehensive accreditation standards for the 89
administration and management of law enforcement units, to grant 90
accreditation to those law enforcement units that demonstrate their 91
compliance with such standards and, at the request and expense of any 92
law enforcement unit, to conduct such surveys as may be necessary to 93
determine such unit's compliance with such standards; and (B) [on and 94
after January 1, 2025,] to work with any law enforcement unit that has 95
failed to [obtain] adopt or maintain [accreditation from] the minimum 96
standards and practices or a higher level of accreditation standards 97
developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation for Law 98
Enforcement Agencies, Inc., pursuant to section 7-294ee, as amended by 99
this act; 100
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 7-291d of the general statutes is 101
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 102
passage): 103
(a) No law enforcement unit, as defined in section 7-294a, shall 104
discharge, discipline, discriminate against or otherwise penalize a police 105
officer, as defined in section 7-294a, who is employed by such law 106
enforcement unit solely because (1) the police officer seeks or receives 107
mental health care services, [or] (2) the police officer surrenders his or 108 DRAFT
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her firearm, ammunition or electronic defense weapon used in the 109
performance of the police officer's official duties to such law 110
enforcement unit during the time the police officer receives mental 111
health care services, or (3) of the results of a behavioral health 112
assessment conducted pursuant to section 7-291e. The provisions of this 113
subsection shall not be applicable to a police officer who (1) seeks or 114
receives mental health care services to avoid disciplinary action by such 115
law enforcement unit, or (2) refuses to submit himself or herself to an 116
examination as provided in subsection (b) of this section. 117
Sec. 4. (Effective from passage) (a) The Commissioner of Administrative 118
Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Emergency Services 119
and Public Protection, shall study and make recommendations 120
regarding ways to lower the costs incurred by municipal police 121
departments for digital data storage devices or services, as defined in 122
section 29-6d of the general statutes. Such study shall examine, at a 123
minimum, (1) the feasibility of and costs associated with expanding the 124
storage system used by the Department of Emergency Services and 125
Public Protection and with building a new storage system to provide 126
digital data storage devices or services for municipal police 127
departments, (2) compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, as 128
defined in section 1-200 of the general statutes, if a municipal police 129
department stored data from the recordings made by body-worn 130
recording equipment on a state-owned storage system, (3) cost-sharing 131
arrangements with municipal police departments that use a state-132
owned storage system that consider a specific cost per police officer and 133
police departments in large municipalities and distressed 134
municipalities, as defined in section 32-9p of the general statutes, and 135
(4) any issues associated with a municipal police department 136
transferring data from one storage system to a state-owned storage 137
system. 138
(b) Not later than February 1, 2022, the Commissioner of 139
Administrative Services shall submit, in accordance with the provisions 140
of section 11-4a of the general statutes, its findings and 141
recommendations to the joint standing committee of the General 142 DRAFT
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Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public safety and 143
security. 144
Sec. 5. Section 4a-53 of the general statutes is repealed and the 145
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 146
(a) The Commissioner of Administrative Services may join with 147
federal agencies, other state governments, political subdivisions of this 148
state or nonprofit organizations in cooperative purchasing plans when 149
the best interests of the state would be served thereby. 150
(b) The state, through the Commissioner of Administrative Services, 151
may purchase equipment, supplies, materials and services from a 152
person who has a contract to sell such property or services to other state 153
governments, political subdivisions of this state, nonprofit 154
organizations or public purchasing consortia, in accordance with the 155
terms and conditions of such contract. 156
(c) The Commissioner of Administrative Services, in conjunction with 157
the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and within 158
available appropriations, shall make known to the chief executive 159
officer of each municipality the existence of cooperative plans for the 160
purchase of recycled paper. 161
(d) The Commissioner of Administrative Services, in conjunction 162
with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, shall 163
enter into a cooperative purchasing plan with each municipality that 164
seeks to enter into such plan for the purchase of digital data storage 165
devices or services, as defined in section 29-6d, for use by municipal 166
police departments. 167
Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than July 1, 2022, 168
the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, after consultation 169
with persons with mental or physical disabilities and advocates on 170
behalf of such persons, shall develop a training curriculum for police 171
officers regarding interactions with persons with mental or physical 172
disabilities. 173 DRAFT
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(b) On and after October 1, 2022, each police basic or review training 174
program conducted or administered by the Police Officer Standards and 175
Training Council, the Division of State Police within the Department of 176
Emergency Services and Public Protection or a municipal police 177
department shall include the training curriculum developed pursuant 178
to subsection (a) of this section. 179
Sec. 7. Subsection (c) of section 7-277c of the general statutes is 180
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 181
passage): 182
(c) The Office of Policy and Management shall distribute grants-in-183
aid to any municipality pursuant to this section during the fiscal years 184
ending June 30, 2021, and June 30, 2022. Any such grant-in-aid shall be 185
for up to fifty per cent of the cost of such purchase of body-worn 186
recording equipment, digital data storage devices or services or 187
dashboard cameras with a remote recorder, [if the municipality is a 188
distressed municipality, as defined in section 32-9p, or up to thirty per 189
cent of the cost of such purchase if the municipality is not a distressed 190
municipality,] provided the costs of such digital data storage services 191
covered by a grant-in-aid shall not be for a period of service that is 192
longer than one year.193
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 7-294ee
Sec. 2 from passage 7-294d(a)(22)
Sec. 3 from passage 7-291d(a)
Sec. 4 from passage New section
Sec. 5 from passage 4a-53
Sec. 6 from passage New section
Sec. 7 from passage 7-277c(c)
Statement of Purpose:
To revise the requirements regarding the accreditation of law
enforcement units, study ways to lower the costs associated with data
storage or services related to body-worn recording equipment, require DRAFT
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police officers receive training regarding interactions with persons with
mental or physical disabilities, and revise the amount of a grant-in-aid
to municipalities for the purchase of body-worn recording equipment.
[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.]