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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 122
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 2892
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 ACT S
COMMITTED BY EXTREMI ST GROUPS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 29-4 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2
2021): 3
(d) The commissioner shall establish such divisions as the 4
commissioner deems necessary for effective operation of the state police 5
force and consistent with budgetary allotments, a Criminal Intelligence 6
Division, a Hate Crimes and Extremist Group Investigative Unit and a 7
state-wide organized crime investigative task force to be engaged 8
throughout the state for the purpose of preventing and detecting any 9
violation of the criminal law. The head of the Criminal Intelligence 10
Division shall be of the rank of sergeant or above. The head of the state-11
wide organized crime investigative task force shall be a police officer. 12
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) The Commissioner of Emergency 13
Services and Public Protection shall assign to the Hate Crimes and 14
Extremist Group Investigative Unit, established pursuant to subsection 15
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(d) of section 29-4 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, such 16
personnel as may be required to: 17
(1) Prevent, investigate and detect (A) any activity that may 18
constitute a crime that is a violation of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-19
181l of the general statutes, or any other crime that may be motivated by 20
bigotry or bias, and (B) any criminal activity by an extremist group; 21
(2) Analyze data and issue reports on (A) crimes that are violations 22
of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l of the general statutes, reported 23
to the unit pursuant to section 29-7m of the general statutes, as amended 24
by this act, (B) any other crimes that may be motivated by bigotry or 25
bias, and (C) any criminal activity by extremist groups; and 26
(3) Assist any law enforcement unit, as defined in section 7-294a of 27
the general statutes, with the investigation of (A) any alleged crime that 28
is a violation of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l of the general 29
statutes, or any other crime that may be motivated by bigotry or bias, 30
and (B) any criminal activity by an extremist group. 31
Sec. 3. Section 29-7m of the general statutes is repealed and the 32
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2021): 33
(a) [On and after July 1, 1988, the] The Hate Crimes and Extremist 34
Group Investigative Unit of the Division of State Police within the 35
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall monitor, 36
record and classify all crimes committed in the state which are 37
motivated by bigotry or bias. 38
(b) The police department, resident state trooper or constable who 39
performs law enforcement duties for each town shall monitor, record 40
and classify all crimes committed within such town which are violations 41
of section 53a-181j, 53a-181k or 53a-181l and report such information to 42
the [Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency 43
Services and Public Protection] unit. 44
(c) Not later than October 1, 2021, and annually thereafter, the unit 45
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shall publish a report on the department's Internet web site of (1) the 46
information compiled under subsections (a) and (b) of this section, and 47
(2) data and reports on the unit's activities under section 2 of this act. 48
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 29-4(d)
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2021 29-7m
Statement of Purpose:
To establish a unit within the State Police to investigate hate crimes and
criminal acts committed by extremist groups.
[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.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. ANWAR, 3rd Dist.
S.B. 122