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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6597 (as amended by House "A")*
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 and
related agencies, 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. requires the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to
issue a request for proposal (RFP) for purchasing body-worn
recording equipment (i.e., body cameras), dashboard cameras
with a remote recorder (i.e., dashboard cameras), and camera-
related digital data storage devices and services to support law
enforcement units and police officers in complying with state
law’s camera use requirements;
4. explicitly excludes animal control, all-terrain, and certain other
police vehicles from having to be equipped with a dashboard
camera; 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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5. replaces police basic and review training on handling incidents
involving individuals affected with a serious mental illness with
a training curriculum on interacting with people who have
mental or physical disabilities;
6. modifies statutes concerning the hiring and certification of
police officers who were dismissed for malfeasance or serious
misconduct; and
7. authorizes the West Haven police department to acquire a
mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle from the Farmington
police department.
Lastly, the bill makes numerous technical and conforming changes.
*House Amendment “A” (1) moves up the end date for maintaining
at least the Tier I minimum standards and practices by a year; (2)
removes a provision allowing POST to recommend withholding state
funds from a unit for failing to comply with specific POST guidance;
(3) eliminates provisions increasing grant funding to municipalities for
purchasing body cameras and dashboard cameras and establishing a
cooperative purchasing plan for camera-related digital data storage
devices and services; (4) adds the camera-related RFP issuance
provision; (5) excludes animal control, all-terrain, and certain other
police vehicles from dashboard camera requirements; (6) replaces
police basic and review training on handling incidents involving
individuals affected with a serious mental illness with a training
curriculum on interacting with people who have mental or physical
disabilities; (7) modifies statutes concerning the hiring and certification
of police officers who were dismissed for malfeasance or serious
misconduct; and (8) authorizes the West Haven police department to
acquire a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle from the
Farmington police department.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the provisions
concerning the hiring and certification of police officers (§§ 7 & 8) are
effective July 1, 2021, and the provision eliminating the training on
handling incidents involving individuals affected with a serious 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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mental illness (§ 10) is effective October 1, 2022.
§§ 1 & 2 — MINIMUM STANDARDS AN D PRACTICES
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. Under current law, 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. It instead requires POST to, within available appropriations,
divide the current minimum standards and practices into three tiers by
January 1, 2022, thereby codifying POST’s existing three-tiered
accreditation structure. The table below describes the minimum
standards and practices of each tier, higher accreditation standards
developed by POST or CALEA that are otherwise acceptable for each
tier, and the dates by which units must adopt and maintain the
acceptable standards for each tier.
Table 1. Minimum Standards & Practices Tiers Schedule
Tier I Tier II Tier III
Minimum
Standards &
Practices
Description
Minimum standards
and practices
designed to protect
law enforcement
units from liability,
enhance service
delivery, and
improve public
confidence in units
Minimum standards
and practices for unit
administration,
management, and
operation
Higher minimum
standards and
practices for unit
administration,
management, and
operation
Accepted Higher
Level of
Accreditation
Developed by POST
or CALEA
Developed by POST
or CALEA
Developed by CALEA 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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Standards
Required
Adoption and
Maintenance
Dates
By January 1, 2022,
and until December
31, 2022
By January 1, 2023,
and until December
31, 2024
By January 1, 2025,
and after
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 on 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 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 & 6 — BODY AND DASHBOARD C AMERAS
Current state law generally requires police officers to use body 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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cameras while interacting with the public in their law enforcement
capacity if they are sworn members of (1) the State Police, (2) a public
university or college special police force, or (3) a municipal police
department that has received certain state reimbursement grants for
body camera purchases. Under existing law, beginning July 1, 2022,
this requirement is expanded to include all sworn members of state,
municipal, and tribal law enforcement units and members of those
units who perform police duties. It also obligates each of those units to
require the use of dashboard cameras with a remote recorder in each
police patrol vehicle used by any of the officers it employs (CGS § 29-
6d).
The bill requires DAS, in consultation with the Office of Policy and
Management and DESPP, to issue an RFP, by October 1, 2021, for
purchasing body and dashboard cameras and digital data storage
devices and services to support law enforcement units and police
officers in complying with the above requirements. Under the bill, the
deadline for submitting proposals must be no more than 60 days from
the date the RFP is issued. By January 1, 2022, a DAS-established
screening committee must evaluate the proposals submitted and
determine the highest scoring proposers based on the RFP’s criteria.
The bill requires any contract awarded under the RFP to be available to
other state governments, political subdivisions of the state (e.g., a
municipality), and nonprofit organizations in accordance with the
state’s “piggyback” purchasing law (i.e., CGS § 4a-53).
The bill also modifies the current statutory definition of “police
patrol vehicle.” The bill explicitly excludes the following types of
vehicles from the term: (1) bicycles, (2) motor scooters, (3) all-terrain
vehicles, (4) electric personal assistive mobility devices, and (5) animal
control vehicles.
§§ 5 & 10 — OFFICER TRAINING CURRICULUM
The bill requires POST to develop a training curriculum, by July 1,
2022, for police officers on interacting with people who have mental or
physical disabilities, after consulting with these people and their
advocates. Beginning October 1, 2022, each police basic or review 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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training program conducted or administered by POST, the State Police,
or a municipal police department must include this curriculum.
Under current 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). The bill eliminates the second
training requirement on individuals with a serious mental illness.
§§ 7 & 8 — POLICE OFFICER HIRING AND CERTIFICATION
Existing law prohibits a law enforcement unit from hiring a police
officer who was previously employed by the unit or in another
jurisdiction and (1) was dismissed for malfeasance or serious
misconduct calling into question his or her fitness to serve as an officer
or (2) resigned or retired during an investigation into such conduct.
The bill:
1. expressly prohibits POST from certifying these officers;
2. allows POST to hold hearings for units and officers to determine
whether a specific hiring or certification denial is improper; and
3. expands the type of actions considered “serious misconduct,”
principally to include taking improper or illegal actions that
could result in a gross deviation from generally accepted police
officer standards and behavior.
Existing law requires a unit, if it knows that such an officer is
applying to another unit, to inform POST and the other unit about the
officer’s dismissal, resignation, or retirement. By expanding the
definition of “serious misconduct,” the bill correspondingly expands
when these units must report to POST and other units.
Under existing law and the bill, the hiring, certification, and
reporting provisions do not apply to officers exonerated from
malfeasance or serious misconduct allegations. Additionally, the bill
does not preclude POST from suspending, cancelling, or revoking an 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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officer’s certification based on its existing statutory authority.
Officer Certification
The bill explicitly prohibits POST from certifying any officer who (1)
was dismissed for malfeasance or other serious misconduct, as defined
below, or (2) resigned or retired during an investigation for such
conduct. Under existing law, unchanged by the bill, “malfeasance” has
its common meaning (i.e., a wrongful, unlawful, or dishonest act).
By law, POST enforces professional standards for certifying and
decertifying police officers, among other duties. Existing law allows
POST to cancel or revoke a police officer’s certification for several
actions included in the below definition of serious misconduct, such as
fraud, document falsification, or felony convictions (CGS § 7-294d).
POST must (1) investigate if it believes there is a reasonable basis for
cancelling or revoking an officer’s certificate and (2) institute
cancellation or revocation procedures if it determines probable cause
exists (Conn. Agencies Reg. § 7-294e-11).
POST Hearings
The bill allows POST to hold a hearing, in accordance with the
Uniform Administrative Procedure Act (UAPA), for any (1) law
enforcement unit prohibited from hiring a person by the provisions
described above and (2) police officer denied certification by the bill.
The hearing’s purpose must be to determine whether the (1) police
officer was dismissed for malfeasance or other serious misconduct, (2)
police officer resigned or retired while under investigation for
malfeasance or other serious misconduct, (3) police officer was
exonerated of each allegation of malfeasance or other serious
misconduct, or (4) conduct at issue constituted malfeasance or serious
misconduct.
Under existing law, unchanged by the bill, before cancelling or
revoking an officer’s certification, POST must (1) give the officer notice
and an adequate opportunity for a hearing and (2) make a finding of
the improper conduct by clear and convincing evidence. Any hearing
to suspend, cancel, or revoke a certification must be conducted in 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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accordance with the UAPA, and any certificate holder aggrieved by a
POST decision may appeal to court under the UAPA (CGS § 7-294d).
Serious Misconduct
Under current law, “serious misconduct” means an officer’s
improper or illegal actions connected with official duties that could
cause a miscarriage of justice or discrimination, such as a felony
conviction, evidence fabrication, repeated use of excessive force, bribe
acceptance, or fraud.
The bill expands the definition of “serious misconduct” to include
an officer’s improper or illegal actions connected with official duties
that could cause a gross deviation from generally accepted police
officer standards and behavior. It also expands the type of actions that
explicitly constitute serious misconduct, to include:
1. evidence falsification;
2. failure to intervene or stop unreasonable, excessive, or illegal
use of force by another officer; and
3. intimidation or harassment causing injury based upon actual or
perceived protected class membership, identity, or expression.
Additionally, the bill changes when a police officer’s use of force
rises to “serious misconduct.” Under current law, “serious
misconduct” includes repeated use of excessive force. Under the bill, it
instead includes the use of physical force found to be unjustifiable after
a statutory investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
(By law, these OIG investigations are limited to circumstances in which
a person dies as a result of an officer’s use of force (CGS § 51-277a).)
§ 9 — CONTROLLED EQUIPMENT ACQUISITION
Existing law prohibits law enforcement agencies (i.e., State Police
and municipal police departments) from acquiring certain military
equipment, including mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (i.e.,
“controlled equipment”) (CGS § 7-294jj). Notwithstanding this law, the
bill allows the West Haven municipal police department to acquire, by 2021HB-06597-R010752-BA.DOCX
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January 1, 2022, one mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle from the
Farmington municipal police department. The bill provides that the
West Haven municipal police department is otherwise subject to
existing law concerning controlled equipment (e.g., law enforcement
agencies that are allowed to keep controlled equipment are prohibited
from using it for crowd management or intimidation tactics.)
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.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety and Security Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 25 Nay 0 (03/18/2021)