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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5372 (as amended by House “A”)*
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 does the following:
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 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-R01-BA.DOCX
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4 & 5); and
5. adds two members to the Correction Advisory Committee
established in sSB 459, as amended by Senate “A”, and passed by
both chambers.
*House Amendment “A” (1) requires a BOR-selected institution to
study, rather than study and evaluate as in the underlying bill, school
resource officers’ role and impact on students with disabilities; (2)
eliminates the provision on police accreditation, and (3) adds the
provision on the Correction Advisory Committee membership.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2022, except the provisions on the (1)
school resource officer study and Correction Advisory Committee
membership 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, 2022HB-05372-R01-BA.DOCX
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gender, and ethnic diversity as under current law. It also requires the
guidelines to promote achieving these diversity goals within
community involvement.
§ 3 — SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER STUDY
The bill requires, within 30 days after its passage, BOR to select a
public higher education institution to study the role and impact of
school resource officers on students with disabilities.
Under the bill, the selected institution must do the following:
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 did the following: 2022HB-05372-R01-BA.DOCX
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1. used unreasonable, excessive, or illegal force that (a) caused
serious physical injury to or death of another person or (b) was
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 — CRIMINAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
sHB 459, as amended by Senate “A” and passed by both chambers,
establishes a Correction Advisory Committee to, among other things,
submit a list of correction ombuds candidates to the governor and meet
quarterly with the ombuds. The bill increases the committee
membership, from nine to 11, by adding the following appointments:
1. a member who is a victim of violent crime, a person who
advocates for victims’ rights, or an attorney who represented a
victim of a violent crime, appointed by the Judiciary Committee
House ranking member and 2022HB-05372-R01-BA.DOCX
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2. a member who has expertise in corrections, appointed by the
Judiciary Committee Senate ranking member.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 39 Nay 0 (03/29/2022)
Appropriations Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 49 Nay 1 (04/22/2022)