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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6597
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCREDITATION, REPORTING
REQUIREMENTS, MENTAL HEALTH, DATA STORAGE SERVICES
AND TRAINING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
SUMMARY
This bill makes several changes affecting law enforcement,
including the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
(DESPP), the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST),
and law enforcement units (see BACKGROUND). Generally, it:
1. modifies the POST-DESPP minimum standards and practices
that law enforcement units must adopt and maintain, including
eliminating a requirement that units obtain and maintain
accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law
Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) by 2025;
2. extends existing employment protections to certain police
officers who seek or receive mental health care services after
undergoing a required behavioral health assessment;
3. increases grant funding to many municipalities for purchasing
body-worn recording equipment (i.e., body cameras) and
dashboard cameras with a remote recorder (i.e., dashboard
cameras) and establishes a cooperative purchasing plan for
camera-related digital data storage devices and services; and
4. adds curriculum on interacting with people who have mental or
physical disabilities to police basic and review training.
Lastly, the bill makes numerous technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
§§ 1 & 2 — MINIMUM STANDARDS AN D PRACTICES 2021HB-06597-R000310-BA.DOCX
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Until December 31, 2024, current law requires POST and DESPP to
jointly develop, adopt, and revise, as necessary, minimum standards
and practices for administering and managing law enforcement units,
based in part on standards from CALEA. Additionally, law
enforcement units must, from January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2024,
adopt and maintain (1) POST-DESPP’s minimum standards and
practices or (2) a higher level of accreditation standards developed by
POST or CALEA. Starting in 2025, units must obtain and maintain
CALEA accreditation.
The bill eliminates the (1) sunset date on POST-DESPP developing,
adopting, and revising their minimum standards and practices and (2)
requirement that units obtain and maintain accreditation from CALEA
by 2025. The bill also requires the minimum standards and practices to
be divided into three tiers, thereby codifying POST’s existing three-
tiered accreditation structure. The table below outlines the minimum
standards and practices of each tier, what higher level of accreditation
standards developed by POST or CALEA are otherwise acceptable for
each tier, and the associated adoption deadlines.
Table 1. Minimum Standards & Practices Adoption Schedule
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
Minimum
Standards &
Practices
Description
Minimum standards
and practices
designed to protect
law enforcement
units from liability,
enhance the delivery
of services, and
improve public
confidence in units
Minimum standards
and practices for the
administration,
management, and
operation of units
Higher minimum
standards and
practices for the
administration,
management, and
operation of units
Accepted Higher
Level of
Accreditation
Standards
Developed by POST
or CALEA
Developed by POST
or CALEA
Developed by CALEA
Required
Adopted Dates
By January 1, 2022,
and until December
31, 2023*
By January 1, 2023,
and until December
31, 2024
By January 1, 2025,
and after 2021HB-06597-R000310-BA.DOCX
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*Presumably this should be 12/31/22 to avoid an overlap
The bill makes conforming changes to extend to each tier the current
requirements for POST to (1) publish and distribute the standards and
practices and (2) jointly review and certify unit compliance with
DESPP.
The bill also requires that the minimum standards and practices
include compliance with specific POST guidance regarding reporting
procedures for police officer certificate suspension, cancellation, or
revocation (i.e., POST General Notice 20-09). Under the bill, if a law
enforcement unit fails to comply with the guidance, then (1) POST may
recommend to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), and the
OPM secretary may order, an appropriate penalty involving the
withholding of state funds from the unit and (2) POST may revoke the
unit’s certificate of compliance with the minimum standards and
practices.
§ 3 — EMPLOYMENT PROTECTIO NS
Existing law generally prohibits a law enforcement unit from
discharging, disciplining, discriminating against, or penalizing a police
officer it employs solely because the officer, among other things, seeks
or receives mental health care services. The bill extends this
prohibition to cover officers who seek or receive services as a result of
a statutorily-required behavioral health assessment. By law,
administrative heads of law enforcement units must require each
police officer employed by the unit to submit to a behavioral health
assessment at least every five years as a condition of continued
employment.
Under existing law and the bill, the prohibition does not apply to
officers who seek or receive mental health care services to avoid
disciplinary action by their units.
§§ 4-5 & 7 — BODY AND DASHBOARD CAMERA RELATED
GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE PURCHASI NG
Under current law, OPM must distribute up to $4 million in grants 2021HB-06597-R000310-BA.DOCX
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to municipalities in FYs 21 and 22 toward certain purchases of body
cameras, dashboard cameras, and related equipment and service
purchases (i.e., digital data storage devices or services). The bill allows
any municipality to receive a grant of up to 50% of associated costs,
rather than 50% for distressed municipalities and 30% for all other
municipalities, as under current law.
Relatedly, the bill requires the Department of Administrative
Services (DAS) commissioner, in conjunction with DESPP, to enter into
a cooperative purchasing plan with each municipality that opts into
the plan for buying digital data storage devices or services for use by
its police department.
Additionally, the bill requires the DAS commissioner , in
consultation with the DESPP commissioner, to study and make
recommendations on ways to lower the costs incurred by municipal
police departments for digital data storage devices and services,
including:
1. the feasibility of, and costs associated with, expanding DESPP’s
storage system or building a new system to provide digital data
storage devices or services for municipal police departments;
2. compliance with the Freedom of Information Act if a municipal
police department stores data from body camera recordings on
a state-owned storage system;
3. cost-sharing arrangements with municipal police departments
that use a state-owned storage system that consider a specific
cost per police officer and police departments in large
municipalities and distressed municipalities; and
4. any issues associated with a municipal police department
transferring data from one storage system to a state-owned
storage system.
The DAS commissio ner must submit his findings and
recommendations to the Public Safety and Security Committee by 2021HB-06597-R000310-BA.DOCX
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February 1, 2022.
§ 6 — OFFICER TRAINING CURRICULUM
The bill requires POST to develop a training curriculum for police
officers on interacting with people who have mental or physical
disabilities by July 1, 2022, after consulting with such people and their
advocates. Beginning October 1, 2022, each police basic or review
training program conducted or administered by POST, the State Police,
or a municipal police department must include this curriculum.
Under existing law, state and local police basic and review training
must include, among other things, specific training on handling
incidents involving (1) juveniles with autism spectrum disorder or
nonverbal learning disorder and (2) individuals affected with a serious
mental illness (CGS §§ 7-294h & -294r).
BACKGROUND
Law Enforcement Units
By law, a “law enforcement unit” is any state or municipal agency
or department (or tribal agency or department created and governed
under a memorandum of agreement) whose primary functions include
enforcing criminal or traffic laws; preserving public order; protecting
life and property; or preventing, detecting, or investigating crime (CGS
§ 7-294a).
Related Bill
sSB 572, reported favorably by the Public Safety and Security
Committee, requires POST to, among other things, study the current
police basic and review training curriculum relative to (1) interactions
with people with a mental, intellectual, or physical disability, (2)
mental health awareness, and (3) de-escalation practices and
techniques. By February 1, 2022, POST must submit its results and
recommendations to the Public Safety and Security Committee.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety and Security Committee 2021HB-06597-R000310-BA.DOCX
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Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 25 Nay 0 (03/18/2021)