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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 135
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1050
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCREDITATION STANDARDS FOR LAW
ENFORCEMENT UNITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-294ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) [Until December 31, 2024, the] The Police Officer Standards and 3
Training Council, established under section 7-294b, and the 4
Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the 5
commissioner's designee, shall jointly develop, adopt and revise, as 6
necessary, minimum standards and practices for the administration, 7
[and] management and operation of law enforcement units, as defined 8
in section 7-294a. Such minimum standards and practices shall be based 9
upon standards established by the International Association of Chiefs of 10
Police and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement 11
Agencies, Inc., and shall include, but need not be limited to, standards 12
and practices regarding bias-based policing, use of force, response to 13
crimes of family violence, use of body-worn recording equipment, 14
complaints that allege misconduct by police officers, use of electronic 15 Raised Bill No. 135
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defense weapons, eyewitness identification procedures, notifications in 16
death and related events and pursuits by police officers and compliance 17
with the guidance issued by the council pursuant to subdivision (1) of 18
subsection (g) of section 7-294d regarding reporting procedures to be 19
followed by chief law enforcement officers for certificate suspension, 20
cancellation or revocation. Not later than January 1, 2023, the council 21
shall, within available appropriations, divide the minimum standards 22
and practices into three state-accreditation tiers, to be known as tier one, 23
tier two and tier three. Tier one shall consist of minimum standards and 24
practices designed to protect law enforcement units from liability, 25
enhance the delivery of services and improve public confidence in law 26
enforcement units. Tier two shall consist of minimum standards and 27
practices for the administration, management and operation of law 28
enforcement units. Tier three shall consist of higher minimum standards 29
and practices for the administration, management and operation of law 30
enforcement units. The council shall post [such] the minimum standards 31
and practices of each tier on the council's Internet web site and 32
disseminate [such] the minimum standards and practices of each tier to 33
law enforcement units. The council and commissioner or the 34
commissioner's designee shall jointly develop a process to review a law 35
enforcement unit's compliance with [such] the minimum standards and 36
practices of each tier and issue a certificate of compliance with [law 37
enforcement] the minimum standards and practices of tier one, tier two 38
or tier three, as the case may be, to a law enforcement unit that meets or 39
exceeds [such] the minimum standards and practices of such tier. 40
(b) On and after January 1, 2019, and until December 31, [2024] 2022, 41
each law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the minimum 42
standards and practices developed by the council pursuant to 43
subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation 44
standards developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation 45
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 46
(c) On and after January 1, 2023, and until December 31, 2023, each 47
law enforcement unit shall meet (1) the requirements for state-48
accreditation tier one developed by the council pursuant to subsection 49 Raised Bill No. 135
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(a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation standards 50
developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation for Law 51
Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 52
(d) On and after January 1, 2024, and until December 31, 2025, each 53
law enforcement unit shall meet (1) the requirements for state-54
accreditation tiers one and two developed by the council pursuant to 55
subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation 56
standards developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation 57
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 58
[(c)] (e) On and after January 1, [2025] 2026, each law enforcement 59
unit shall [obtain and maintain accreditation] meet (1) the requirements 60
for state-accreditation tiers one, two and three developed by the council 61
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of 62
accreditation standards developed by the Commission on Accreditation 63
for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 64
(f) If a law enforcement unit fails to obtain or maintain [such 65
accreditation] the appropriate state-accreditation tier or tiers or the 66
higher level of accreditation standards developed by the Commission 67
on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., as required by the 68
provisions of subsections (b) to (e), inclusive, of this section, the council 69
shall work with the law enforcement unit to obtain and maintain such 70
state-accreditation tier or tiers or accreditation standards. 71
(g) If a law enforcement unit fails to comply with the guidance issued 72
by the council pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (g) of section 7-73
294d regarding reporting procedures to be followed by chief law 74
enforcement officers for certificate suspension, cancellation or 75
revocation, the council may revoke the certificate of compliance with the 76
appropriate state-accreditation tier or tiers, as the case may be, issued 77
pursuant to this section. 78
[(d)] (h) No civil action may be brought against a law enforcement 79
unit for damages arising from the failure of the law enforcement unit to 80
(1) adopt and maintain such minimum standards and practices or a 81 Raised Bill No. 135
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higher level of accreditation standards pursuant to subsection (b) of this 82
section, or (2) obtain and maintain the appropriate state-accreditation 83
tier or tiers or accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for 84
Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., [pursuant to subsection (c) of this 85
section] as required by subsections (c) to (e), inclusive, of this section. 86
Sec. 2. Subdivision (22) of subsection (a) of section 7-294d of the 2022 87
supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is 88
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 89
(22) (A) [Until December 31, 2024, to] To develop, adopt and revise, 90
as necessary, comprehensive accreditation standards, and designation 91
of such standards as state-accreditation tiers one, two and three, for the 92
administration and management of law enforcement units, to grant 93
accreditation to those law enforcement units that demonstrate their 94
compliance with such standards and, at the request and expense of any 95
law enforcement unit, to conduct such surveys as may be necessary to 96
determine such unit's compliance with such standards; and (B) on and 97
after January 1, [2025,] 2023 to work with any law enforcement unit that 98
has failed to obtain or maintain accreditation [from] at the appropriate 99
tier or tiers or a higher level of accreditation standards developed by the 100
council or the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement 101
Agencies, Inc., pursuant to section 7-294ee, as amended by this act; 102
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 7-294ee
Sec. 2 from passage 7-294d(a)(22)
Statement of Purpose:
To revise the requirements regarding the accreditation of law
enforcement units.
[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.]