LCO No. 4410 1 of 2
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1009
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4410
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT REQUIRING SOC IAL MEDIA POLICIES FOR POLICE
DEPARTMENTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than January 1, 1
2022, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council shall develop a 2
model policy concerning the use of social media, as defined in section 9-3
601 of the general statutes, by law enforcement units and police officers, 4
as such terms are defined in section 7-294a of the general statutes, while 5
on duty. Such model policy shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) 6
guidelines regarding the use of a social media account used by a law 7
enforcement unit, (2) the responsibilities of any person employed by the 8
law enforcement unit who manages and approves content to post on 9
such social media account, (3) procedures when the unauthorized use 10
of such social media account is detected, (4) guidelines to ensure 11
compliance with any applicable state or federal law, (5) guidelines 12
regarding content suitable and not suitable for posting on such social 13
media account, (6) methods to limit indecent or obscene content on any 14
such social media account, and (7) a prohibition on the personal use of 15
social media by a police officer while on duty. 16
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(b) Not later than July 1, 2022, each law enforcement unit shall adopt 17
and maintain a written policy that meets or exceeds the standards of the 18
model policy developed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. 19
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Police Officer Standards and Training Council to develop
a model social media policy for police departments and to require police
departments to adopt such model policy or a policy with higher
standards.
[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.]