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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5372
February Session, 2022
AN ACT CONCERNING PERIODIC BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
ASSESSMENTS, POLICE OFFICER RECRUITMENT, SCHOOL
RESOURCE OFFICERS, REPORTING OF VIOLATIONS TO THE
POLICE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING COUNCIL,
INVESTIGATIONS BY THE INSPECTOR GENERAL AND MINIMUM
STANDARDS AND PRACTICES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION,
MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-291e of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 2
(a) As used in this section: (1) "Administrative head of each law 3
enforcement unit" means the Commissioner of Emergency Services and 4
Public Protection, the board of police commissioners, the chief of police, 5
superintendent of police or other authority having charge of a law 6
enforcement unit; and (2) "behavioral health assessment" means a 7
behavioral health assessment of a police officer conducted by a board-8
certified psychiatrist, [or] psychologist licensed pursuant to the 9
provisions of chapter 383 or a clinical social worker licensed pursuant 10
to the provisions of chapter 383b, who has experience diagnosing and 11
treating post-traumatic stress disorder. 12
(b) On and after January 1, 2021, the administrative head of each law 13
enforcement unit shall require each police officer employed by such law 14 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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enforcement unit to submit, as a condition of continued employment, to 15
a periodic behavioral health assessment. Each police officer employed 16
by a law enforcement unit shall submit to a periodic behavioral health 17
assessment not less than once every five years. In carrying out the 18
provisions of this section, the administrative head of each law 19
enforcement unit may stagger the scheduling of such behavioral health 20
assessments in a manner that results in approximately twenty per cent 21
of the total number of police officers in the law enforcement unit 22
receiving behavioral health assessments each year over a five-year 23
period. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, the 24
administrative head of a law enforcement unit may waive the 25
requirement that a police officer submit to a periodic behavioral health 26
assessment when the police officer has submitted written notification of 27
his or her decision to retire from the law enforcement unit to such 28
administrative head, provided the effective date of such retirement is 29
not more than six months beyond the date on which such periodic 30
behavioral health assessment is scheduled to occur. 31
(c) In addition to the behavioral health assessments required 32
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the administrative head of 33
each law enforcement unit may, for good cause shown, require a police 34
officer to submit to an additional behavioral health assessment. The 35
administrative head of a law enforcement unit requiring that a police 36
officer submit to an additional behavioral health assessment shall 37
provide the police officer with a written statement setting forth the good 38
faith basis for requiring the police officer to submit to an additional 39
behavioral health assessment. Upon receiving such written statement, 40
the police officer shall, not later than thirty days after the date of the 41
written request, submit to such behavioral health assessment. 42
(d) A law enforcement unit that hires any person as a police officer, 43
who was previously employed as a police officer by another law 44
enforcement unit or employed as a police officer in any other 45
jurisdiction, may require such new hire to submit to a behavioral health 46
assessment not later than six months after the date of hire. When 47 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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determining whether such new hire shall be required to submit to a 48
behavioral health assessment, the law enforcement unit shall give due 49
consideration to factors that include, but are not limited to, the date on 50
which such new hire most recently submitted to a behavioral health 51
assessment. 52
(e) Any person conducting a behavioral health assessment of a police 53
officer pursuant to the provisions of this section shall provide a written 54
copy of the results of such assessment to the police officer and to the 55
administrative head of the law enforcement unit employing the police 56
officer. 57
(f) The results of any behavioral health assessment conducted in 58
accordance with the provisions of this section and any record or note 59
maintained by a psychiatrist, [or] psychologist, or clinical social worker 60
in connection with the conducting of such assessment shall not be 61
subject to disclosure under section 1-210. 62
Sec. 2. Section 7-291b of the general statutes is repealed and the 63
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2022): 64
Not later than January 1, 2016, each law enforcement unit, as defined 65
in section 7-294a, shall develop and implement guidelines for the 66
recruitment, retention and promotion of minority police officers, as 67
defined in section 7-294a. Such guidelines shall promote achieving the 68
goal of racial, gender, ideological and ethnic diversity within the law 69
enforcement unit and community involvement. 70
Sec. 3. (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than thirty days after the 71
effective date of this section, the Board of Regents for Higher Education 72
shall select a public institution of higher education to study and evaluate 73
the role and impact school resource officers have on students with 74
disabilities. 75
(b) As part of such study, the selected public institution of higher 76
education shall: 77 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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(1) Determine how many school resource officers are employed in 78
this state and the number of such officers in each school district; 79
(2) Detail the funding mechanisms each district uses to employ school 80
resource officers; 81
(3) Develop metrics for assessing the efficacy of school resource 82
officers, particularly in the context of interactions with students with 83
disabilities; 84
(4) Determine the chain of command structure when students with 85
disabilities experience crises in school, including who responds and 86
when; 87
(5) Determine what the process is for entering into memoranda of 88
understanding between school districts, boards of education and school 89
resource officers, and public accessibility to such process; and 90
(6) Explore other issues that the public institution of higher education 91
conducting the study deems relevant to such study. 92
(c) Not later than December 1, 2022, the selected public institution 93
shall report its findings in accordance with the provisions of section 11-94
4a of the general statutes to the joint standing committee of the General 95
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the judiciary. 96
Sec. 4. Section 7-294d of the 2022 supplement to the general statutes 97
is amended by adding subsection (h) as follows (Effective October 1, 98
2022): 99
(NEW) (h) (1) The chief law enforcement officer of each law 100
enforcement unit shall report to the council any violation where a 101
certificate holder has been found by the law enforcement unit, pursuant 102
to procedures established by such unit, to have: (A) Used unreasonable, 103
excessive or illegal force that causes serious physical injury to or the 104
death of another person, or used unreasonable, excessive or illegal force 105
that was likely to cause serious physical injury or death to another 106 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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person; (B) while acting in a law enforcement capacity, failed to 107
intervene or stop the use of unreasonable, excessive or illegal force by 108
another police officer that caused serious physical injury or death to 109
another person, or unreasonable, excessive or illegal force that was 110
likely to cause serious physical injury or death to another person, or to 111
notify a supervisor and submit a written report of such acts where the 112
holder has personal knowledge of such acts and had the ability to 113
prevent such acts; (C) intentionally intimidated or harassed another 114
person based upon actual or perceived protected class membership, 115
identity or expression and in doing so threatened to commit or caused 116
physical injury to another person; and (D) been terminated, dismissed, 117
resigned or retired under circumstances described in section 7-291c. 118
(2) If the chief law enforcement officer of any municipal police 119
department or the Department of Emergency Services and Public 120
Protection fails to report to the council as required in subdivision (1) of 121
this subsection, the council shall notify the Inspector General who shall 122
investigate such failure to report. The Inspector General shall report the 123
findings of the investigation to the Governor and joint standing 124
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 125
relating to the judiciary in accordance with the provisions of section 11-126
4a. 127
Sec. 5. Subsection (a) of section 51-277e of the 2022 supplement to the 128
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 129
thereof (Effective October 1, 2022): 130
(a) There is established the Office of the Inspector General that shall 131
be a separate office within the Division of Criminal Justice. Not later 132
than October 1, 2021, the Criminal Justice Commission established 133
pursuant to section 51-275a shall appoint a deputy chief state's attorney 134
as Inspector General who shall lead the Office of the Inspector General. 135
The office shall: (1) Conduct investigations of peace officers in 136
accordance with section 51-277a, as amended by this act; (2) prosecute 137
any case in which the Inspector General determines a peace officer used 138
force found to not be justifiable pursuant to section 53a-22 or where a 139 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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police officer or correctional officer fails to intervene in any such 140
incident or to report any such incident, as required under subsection (a) 141
of section 7-282e or section 18-81nn, as applicable; [and] (3) investigate 142
any failure to report in accordance with the provisions of subdivision 143
(1) of subsection (h) of section 7-294d, as amended by this act; and (4) 144
make recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training 145
Council established under section 7-294b concerning censure and 146
suspension, renewal, cancelation or revocation of a peace officer's 147
certification. 148
Sec. 6. Section 7-294ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 149
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 150
(a) [Until December 31, 2024, the] The Police Officer Standards and 151
Training Council, established under section 7-294b, and the 152
Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the 153
commissioner's designee, shall jointly develop, adopt and revise, as 154
necessary, minimum standards and practices for the administration, 155
[and] management and operation of law enforcement units, as defined 156
in section 7-294a. Such minimum standards and practices shall be based 157
upon standards established by the International Association of Chiefs of 158
Police and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement 159
Agencies, Inc., and shall include, but need not be limited to, standards 160
and practices regarding bias-based policing, use of force, response to 161
crimes of family violence, use of body-worn recording equipment, 162
complaints that allege misconduct by police officers, use of electronic 163
defense weapons, eyewitness identification procedures, notifications in 164
death and related events and pursuits by police officers. Not later than 165
July 1, 2022, the council shall, within available appropriations, divide 166
the minimum standards and practices into three tiers, to be known as 167
tier one, tier two and tier three. Tier one shall consist of minimum 168
standards and practices designed to protect law enforcement units from 169
liability, enhance the delivery of services and improve public confidence 170
in law enforcement units. Tier two shall consist of minimum standards 171
and practices for the administration, management and operation of law 172 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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enforcement units. Tier three shall consist of higher minimum standards 173
and practices for the administration, management and operation of law 174
enforcement units. The council shall post [such] the minimum standards 175
and practices of each tier on the council's Internet web site and 176
disseminate [such] the minimum standards and practices of each tier to 177
law enforcement units. The council and commissioner or the 178
commissioner's designee shall jointly develop a process to review a law 179
enforcement unit's compliance with [such] the minimum standards and 180
practices of each tier and issue a certificate of compliance with [law 181
enforcement] the minimum standards and practices of tier one, tier two 182
or tier three, as the case may be, to a law enforcement unit that meets or 183
exceeds [such] the minimum standards and practices of such tier. 184
(b) On and after January 1, 2019, and until [December 31, 2024] June 185
30, 2022, each law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the 186
minimum standards and practices developed by the council pursuant to 187
subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation 188
standards developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation 189
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 190
(c) On and after July 1, 2022, and until December 31, 2022, each law 191
enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain the minimum standards and 192
practices of tier one developed by the council pursuant to subsection (a) 193
of this section. 194
(d) On and after January 1, 2023, and until December 31, 2024, each 195
law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain the minimum standards 196
and practices of tier two developed by the council pursuant to 197
subsection (a) of this section. 198
[(c)] (e) On and after January 1, 2025, each law enforcement unit shall 199
[obtain and maintain accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation 200
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. If a law enforcement unit fails to 201
obtain or maintain such accreditation, the council shall work with the 202
law enforcement unit to obtain and maintain such accreditation] adopt 203
and maintain the minimum standards and practices of tier three 204 Substitute Bill No. 5372
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developed by the council pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. 205
[(d)] (f) No civil action may be brought against a law enforcement 206
unit for damages arising from the failure of the law enforcement unit to 207
[(1)] adopt and maintain [such] the minimum standards and practices 208
or a higher level of accreditation standards pursuant to [subsection (b) 209
of] this section. [, or (2) obtain and maintain accreditation by the 210
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., 211
pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.] 212
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 7-291e
Sec. 2 October 1, 2022 7-291b
Sec. 3 from passage New section
Sec. 4 October 1, 2022 7-294d
Sec. 5 October 1, 2022 51-277e(a)
Sec. 6 from passage 7-294ee
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 4(h)(1), changes were made for accuracy and consistency.
JUD Joint Favorable Subst.