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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5372
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.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes in the laws governing law
enforcement units. Specifically, it:
1. allows licensed clinical social workers, in addition to
psychiatrists and psychologists, to conduct the behavioral health
assessments of police officers required under existing law (§ 1);
2. expands the requirements for law enforcement unit guidelines on
minority police officer recruitment, retention, and promotion to
include, among other things, the goal of achieving ideological
diversity, in addition to racial, gender, and ethnic diversity,
within law enforcement units and community involvement (§ 2);
3. requires the Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) to
select an institute of higher learning to (a) study and evaluate
school resources officers’ role and impact on students with
disabilities and (b) report its findings to the Judiciary Committee
by December 1, 2022 (§ 3);
4. requires (a) law enforcement units to report to the Police Officer
Standards and Training Council (POST) instances where police
officers commit certain prohibited actions (e.g., excessive force or
failure to intervene) and (b) the Office of the Inspector General
(OIG) to investigate law enforcement units who fail to report and
submit its findings to the governor and Judiciary Committee (§§ 2022HB-05372-R000493-BA.DOCX
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4 & 5); and
5. modifies minimum accreditation standards and practices for
administering and managing law enforcement units including,
(a) requiring POST to establish a three-tiered accreditation
system starting July 1, 2022, and (b) eliminating the requirement
that units obtain accreditation from the Commission on
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA)
starting in 2025 (§ 6).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2022, except the provisions on the (1)
school resource officer study and law enforcement unit accreditation
standards take effect upon passage and (2) social worker behavioral
health assessment take effect July 1, 2022.
§ 1 — SOCIAL WORKER BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT
Existing law generally requires police officers to submit to a periodic
behavioral health assessment at least once every five years as a
condition of continued employment. (Officers may also be required to
submit to an additional assessment for good cause shown.)
The bill allows licensed clinical social workers to conduct the
assessments, in addition to board-certified psychiatrists and licensed
psychologists, as under current law.
As under current law, behavioral health assessments conducted by
clinical social workers are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom
of Information Act.
§ 2 — MINORITY POLICE OFFICER GUIDELINES
By law, each law enforcement unit (see BACKGROUND) must
develop and implement guidelines for recruiting, retaining, and
promoting minority police officers.
The bill requires the guidelines to promote the goal of achieving
ideological diversity within law enforcement units, in addition to racial,
gender, and ethnic diversity, as under current law. It also requires the
guidelines to promote achieving these diversity goals within 2022HB-05372-R000493-BA.DOCX
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community involvement, in addition to law enforcement units.
§ 3 — SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER STUDY
The bill requires, within 30 days after its passage, BOR to select a
public higher education institution to study and evaluate the role and
impact of school resource officers on students with disabilities.
Under the bill, the selected institution must:
1. determine the number of school resource officers employed in
the state and located in each school district;
2. detail the funding mechanisms each district uses to employ these
officers;
3. develop metrics for assessing the officers’ efficacy, particularly in
the context of interacting with students with disabilities;
4. determine the chain of command structure when students with
disabilities experience crises in school, including who responds
and when;
5. determine the process for entering into memoranda of
understanding between school districts, boards of education, and
school resource officers, and the public’s accessibility to this
process; and
6. explore other issues the institution deems relevant.
The bill requires the selected institution to report its findings to the
Judiciary Committee by December 1, 2022.
§§ 4 & 5 — USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE REPORT
The bill requires each law enforcement unit’s chief law enforcement
officer to report to POST anytime the unit found, based on its
established procedures, that a police officer:
1. used unreasonable, excessive, or illegal force that (a) caused
serious physical injury to or death of another person or (b) was 2022HB-05372-R000493-BA.DOCX
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likely to cause serious physical injury or death to another person;
2. while acting in a law enforcement capacity, failed to (a) intervene
or stop the use of unreasonable, excessive, or illegal force by
another police officer that caused or was likely to cause serious
physical injury or death to another person, or (b) notify a
supervisor and submit a written report of these acts when the
police officer has personal knowledge of these acts and the ability
to prevent them;
3. intentionally intimidated or harassed another person based on
actual or perceived protected class membership, identity, or
expression and in doing so threatened to commit or caused
physical injury to another person; and
4. has been terminated, dismissed, resigned, or retired due to the
state law prohibiting the hiring of certain officers who
committed, or were investigated for, prior malfeasance.
The bill requires POST to notify OIG if the municipal chief law
enforcement officer or Department of Emergency Services and Public
Protection (DESPP) fails to make this required report. OIG must then
investigate the failure and submit its findings to the governor and
Judiciary Committee.
§ 6 — LAW ENFORCEMENT UNIT MINIMUM STANDARDS AND
PRACTICES
The bill eliminates the sunset date for current law’s requirement that
POST and DESPP jointly develop, adopt, and revise minimum
accreditation standards and practices for administering and managing
law enforcement units. Under current law, this requirement sunsets on
December 31, 2024. By law, these standards and practices must be based,
in part, on CALEA standards.
Current law requires law enforcement units to adopt and maintain
either (1) POST-DESPP’s minimum accreditation standards and
practices or (2) a higher level of accreditation standards developed by
POST or CALEA. Units must also obtain POST-DESPP certification that 2022HB-05372-R000493-BA.DOCX
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they meet these accreditation standards.
Starting July 1, 2022, the bill instead requires law enforcement units
to obtain certification for a three-tiered state-accreditation system that
POST must establish. Specifically, the bill requires POST, by this date
and within available appropriations, to divide the current minimum
accreditation standards and practices into three tiers. (In doing so, it
codifies POST’s existing three-tiered accreditation structure.)
The bill also requires law enforcement units to obtain POST-DESPP
certification for each accreditation tier over a prescribed period of time.
Table 1 below describes the minimum standards and practices of each
tier and the dates by which units must obtain certification.
Table 1: Minimum Standards and 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
Required
Certification
Dates
Starting July 1,
2022, through
December 31, 2022
Starting January 1,
2023, until December
31, 2024
On and after January
1, 2025
Additionally, the bill eliminates current law’s requirement for law
enforcement units to maintain CALEA accreditation starting January 1,
2025.
Lastly, the bill makes several related conforming changes to
provisions on (1) publishing and distributing accreditation standards,
(2) POST-DESPP joint review and issuance of compliance certifications,
(3) POST assistance to law enforcement units who fail to obtain
certification, and (4) the prohibition of civil actions for failure to comply
with accreditation standards. 2022HB-05372-R000493-BA.DOCX
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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 135, reported favorably by the Public Safety and Security
Committee, also contains provisions eliminating the CALEA
accreditation requirement and establishing a three-tiered accreditation
system.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 39 Nay 0 (03/29/2022)