O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 22-61—sHB 5349
Judiciary Committee
Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE TIMELY REPORTING BY THE POLICE
OF A DEATH
SUMMARY: This act generally requires on-duty peace officers (i.e., law
enforcement officers, see BACKGROUND) to notify a deceased person’s next of
kin about the deceased’s death. The law enforcement agency (i.e., the State Police
or municipal police department) must ensure the notification is made as soon as
practicable, but within 24 hours after the deceased person is identified.
The act also requires the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to investigate
any failure to report a death as required by the act. It allows OIG to make
recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) or
to the employing agency to discipline an officer or his or her supervisor.
The act also makes minor, technical, and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2022
POLICE NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT
Under the act, if a sworn on-duty peace officer responds to an incident
involving, or otherwise encounters, a deceased person or a person’s remains, the
officer must ensure that the deceased person’s next of kin (i.e., spouse, adult child,
parent, adult sibling, or grandparent) is notified about the death according to the
officer’s law enforcement agency’s applicable guidelines.
If the next of kin resides in a town where the peace officer does not serve, the
officer may notify the (1) next of kin about the person’s death according to the
officer’s law enforcement agency’s applicable guidelines or (2) law enforcement
agency that serves the town where the next of kin resides, and that agency must
ensure notification based on its applicable guidelines.
If a peace officer is unable to notify any next of kin, the officer must document
the reason for the failure or delay and any attempts to make the notification. If no
person who is a next of kin is notified, a deceased person’s next of kin may request
an OIG investigation into the lack of notification or timely notification.
OIG INVESTIGATIONS
Upon a next of kin’s request, the act requires OIG to investigate and determine
whether there was malfeasance on the part of the peace officer or his or her
supervisor for failing to provide the notification or timely notification the act
requires.
If OIG finds malfeasance, it may make recommendations to POST concerning O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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censuring, suspending, renewing, canceling, or revoking the officer or supervisor’s
certification. But OIG may only make these recommendations if it finds that the
failure was intentional or made with reckless indifference. Otherwise, OIG may
recommend to the officer’s or supervisor’s employing agency any further
disciplinary action as the employing agency determines.
CANCELLATION OR REVOCATION OF POLICE CERTIFICATION
Existing law sets various grounds upon which POST may cancel or revoke a
police officer’s certification, including for undermining public confidence in law
enforcement. The act expands these grounds by specifying that undermining public
confidence includes failing to report or timely report a death in violation of the act.
BACKGROUND
Peace Officers
By law, the following individuals are designated peace officers: state and local
police, Division of Criminal Justice inspectors, state marshals exercising statutory
powers, judicial marshals performing their duties, conservation or special
conservation officers, constables who perform criminal law enforcement duties,
appointed special policemen, adult probation officers, Department of Correction
officials authorized to make arrests in a correctional institution or facility,
investigators in the State Treasurer’s Office, certified Department of Motor
Vehicles inspectors, U.S. marshals and deputy marshals, U.S. special agents
authorized to enforce federal food and drug laws, and certified police officers of a
law enforcement unit created and governed under a state-tribal memorandum (CGS
§ 53a-3(9), as amended by PA 22-117, § 8).