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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 135
February Session, 2022
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 Section 7-294ee of the general statutes is repealed and the 1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
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 Substitute Bill No. 135
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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 (1) be certified, at a minimum, as meeting the 48
requirements for state-accreditation tier one developed by the council 49
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) meet a higher level of 50
accreditation standards developed by the Commission on Accreditation 51 Substitute Bill No. 135
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for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 52
(d) On and after January 1, 2024, and until December 31, 2025, each 53
law enforcement unit shall (1) be certified, at a minimum, as meeting the 54
requirements for state-accreditation tiers one and two developed by the 55
council pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) meet a higher 56
level of accreditation standards developed by the Commission on 57
Accreditation 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] (1) be certified as meeting 60
the requirements for state-accreditation tiers one, two and three 61
developed by the council pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or 62
(2) meet a higher level of accreditation standards developed by the 63
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. 64
(f) If a law enforcement unit fails to obtain or maintain [such 65
accreditation] the appropriate certification for a state-accreditation tier 66
or tiers or the higher level of accreditation standards developed by the 67
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., as 68
required by the provisions of subsections (b) to (e), inclusive, of this 69
section, the council shall work with the law enforcement unit to obtain 70
and maintain such certification 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
higher level of accreditation standards pursuant to subsection (b) of this 82 Substitute Bill No. 135
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section, or (2) obtain and maintain the appropriate certificate of 83
compliance with the appropriate state-accreditation tier or tiers or 84
accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement 85
Agencies, Inc., [pursuant to subsection (c) of this section] as required by 86
subsections (c) to (e), inclusive, of this section. 87
Sec. 2. Subdivision (22) of subsection (a) of section 7-294d of the 2022 88
supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is 89
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 90
(22) (A) [Until December 31, 2024, to] To develop, adopt and revise, 91
as necessary, comprehensive accreditation standards, and designation 92
of such standards as state-accreditation tiers one, two and three, for the 93
administration and management of law enforcement units, to grant 94
accreditation to those law enforcement units that demonstrate their 95
compliance with such standards and, at the request and expense of any 96
law enforcement unit, to conduct such surveys as may be necessary to 97
determine such unit's compliance with such standards; and (B) on and 98
after January 1, [2025,] 2023 to work with any law enforcement unit that 99
has failed to obtain or maintain [accreditation from] its certification of 100
compliance with the appropriate tier or tiers or a higher level of 101
accreditation standards developed by the council or the Commission on 102
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., pursuant to section 103
7-294ee, as amended by this act;104
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)
PS Joint Favorable Subst.