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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6622
AN ACT CONCERNING CERTIFICATION OR ACCREDITATION
REQUIREMENT DEADLINES FOR A LAW ENFORCEMENT UNIT
THAT SERVES A MUNICIPALITY AND CONSISTS SOLELY OF
CONSTABLES OR RESIDENT STATE TROOPERS.
SUMMARY
PA 22-119 made several changes to the minimum standards and
practices for administering and managing law enforcement units (see
BACKGROUND), including requiring that they be divided into three
state-accreditation tiers. Units must generally be certified for each tier
by certain dates culminating in, by 2026, either (1) being certified as
meeting the requirements for all three state-accreditation tiers or (2)
meeting a higher level of accreditation standards from the Commission
on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA).
This bill changes the certification deadlines for units that serve a
municipality and consist solely of constables or resident state troopers.
It generally extends the prior deadline for them to be certified for tier
one by one year and delays the current deadlines to be certified for tiers
two and three each by one year.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
ADJUSTED MINIMUM STA NDARDS AND PRACTICES
By law, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST)
and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
(DESPP) must jointly develop, adopt, and revise, as necessary,
minimum standards and practices for administering and managing law
enforcement units. Among other things, PA 22-119 further required
POST, within available appropriations, to divide the minimum
standards and practices into three state-accreditation tiers by January 1,
2023. This change effectively codified POST’s three-tiered accreditation 2023HB-06622-R000272-BA.DOCX
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structure that already existed before the act.
Current law required law enforcement units to continue to adopt and
maintain through December 31, 2022, (1) POST-DESPP’s minimum
standards and practices or (2) a higher level of accreditation standards
developed by POST or CALEA. Afterwards, as described in the table
below, current law sets different minimum standards and practices for
each state-accreditation tier and dates by which units must generally be
certified for each tier.
The bill creates a different schedule for units that serve a municipality
and consist solely of constables or resident state troopers by extending
each of the required certification dates by one year. For these units, they
must adopt and maintain through December 31, 2023, (1) POST-
DESPP’s minimum standards and practices or (2) a higher level of
accreditation standards developed by POST or CALEA. (It is not clear
what these standards and practices consist of for the purposes of this
requirement since, by law, they were to be changed and divided by
January 1, 2023, for the purpose of implementing the accreditation tier
certification requirements.) Afterwards, as described in the table below,
the bill sets different minimum standards and practices for each state-
accreditation tier and dates by which these units must generally be
certified for each tier.
Table: Minimum Standards & 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
Current Law’s
Required
Certification
Dates for All
Units
By January 1, 2023,
and until December
31, 2023
By January 1, 2024,
and until December
31, 2025
By January 1, 2026,
and after
Bill’s Required
Certification
By January 1, 2024,
and until December
By January 1, 2025,
and until December
By January 1, 2027,
and after 2023HB-06622-R000272-BA.DOCX
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Tier I Tier II Tier III
Dates for
Covered Units
31, 2024 31, 2026
By law, during the above tier schedules, units may alternatively meet
higher accreditation standards developed by CALEA that are otherwise
acceptable for each tier. Additionally, as units progress up the tier scale,
they must maintain certification with the prior tier or tiers (e.g., at the
tier three stage, they must ultimately be tiers one, two, and three
certified).
BACKGROUND
Minimum Standards and Practices
The current version of the DESPP-POST minimum standards and
practices appears to be published within POST General Notice 20-04,
which existed prior to PA 22-119. By law, they must be based on CALEA
standards and include standards and practices for specified matters
including bias-based policing, use of force, response to family violence
crimes, body camera use, and police pursuits, among others.
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(8)).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety and Security Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 25 Nay 0 (03/16/2023)