O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 23-59—HB 6622
Public Safety and Security Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING CE RTIFICATION OR ACCRE DITATION
REQUIREMENT DEADLINE S FOR A LAW ENFORCEM ENT UNIT
THAT SERVES A MUNICIPALIT Y AND CONSISTS SOLEL Y OF
CONSTABLES OR RESIDE NT 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 act changes the certification deadlines for units that serve a municipality
and consist solely of constables or resident state troopers. It generally extends the
deadline for them to be certified for tier one by one year and delays the 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 structure that already
existed before the act.
Prior 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, it set different minimum standards and
practices for each state-accreditation tier and dates by which units had to generally
be certified for each tier.
The act 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. These covered units must instead 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 O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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CALEA. Afterwards, as described in the table below, the act sets different
minimum standards and practices for each state-accreditation tier and dates by
which these units must generally be certified for each tier.
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
administering, managing,
and operating law
enforcement units
Higher minimum standards
and practices for
administering, managing, and
operating law enforcement
units
Prior 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
Act’s
Required
Certification
Dates for
Covered
Units
By January 1, 2024,
and until December
31, 2024
By January 1, 2025, and
until December 31, 2026
By January 1, 2027, and after
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 POST-DESPP 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 O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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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)).