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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6840
AN ACT EXPANDING MEMBERSHIP OF THE POLICE OFFICER
STANDARDS AND TRAINING COUNCIL, REQUIRING GUIDELINES
REGARDING BODY -WORN RECORDING EQUIPMENT AND
REQUIRING A REPORT REGARDING CONDUCT THAT
UNDERMINES PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT.
SUMMARY
This bill adds an exception to state law’s general requirement that
police officers use body-worn recording equipment (i.e., body cameras)
while interacting with the public. Specifically, it creates an exception for
exigent circumstances based on guidelines that the Department of
Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) commissioner and
the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) must jointly
adopt under the bill.
The bill also increases POST’s membership from 21 members to 23 by
adding two members who must be sworn police officers who are not in
command positions within their law enforcement units. Lastly, it
requires DESPP and POST to submit a report to the Public Safety and
Security Committee on police officer conduct that undermines public
confidence in law enforcement. By law, POST may cancel or revoke an
officer’s certification if he or she engages in this conduct.
The bill also makes technical changes, including repealing obsolete
language.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023, except that the POST membership
changes are effective January 1, 2024, and the reporting requirement is
effective upon passage.
BODY CAMERA EXCEPTIO N
The law generally requires all sworn members of law enforcement 2023HB-06840-R000369-BA.DOCX
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units and members of those units who perform police duties to use body
cameras when they interact with the public in their law enforcement
capacities. Existing law provides exceptions for circumstances identified
in (1) state statute (e.g., encounters with undercover officers or
informants) and (2) a municipal police department’s policy based on
POST guidelines (see BACKGROUND).
The bill adds a new exception. Specifically, by October 1, 2023, it
requires the DESPP commissioner and POST to jointly adopt guidelines
on the exigent circumstances under which a police officer may interact
with the public without using a body camera. (The bill gives examples
of an officer responding to an incident while off duty or when a body
camera is unavailable.) Under the bill, the council and commissioner (1)
may update and reissue the guidelines as necessary and (2) must submit
the guidelines and any updates to the Judiciary and Public Safety and
Security committees. Officers subject to the body camera use
requirement must follow these guidelines.
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)).
POST MEMBERSHIP
Beginning January 1, 2024, the bill increases POST’s membership
from 21 members to 23 by adding two new members, one appointed by
each chairperson of the Public Safety and Security Committee. The
appointees must be sworn police officers who are not in command
positions within their law enforcement units. Under current law, the
council consists of 21 members: 11 appointed by the governor, six
legislative appointments, and four serving ex-officio (the DESPP
commissioner and FBI special agent-in-charge for Connecticut, or their
designees, and the chief state’s attorney and Connecticut State Police
Academy’s commanding officer). 2023HB-06840-R000369-BA.DOCX
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As under existing law, appointed members serve at the pleasure of
their appointing authority for a term coterminous with their appointing
authority (CGS § 4-1a). The law additionally deems a member to have
resigned from POST if he or she misses three consecutive meetings or
50% of the meetings held during any calendar year.
REPORT ON CONDUCT UN DERMINING PUBLIC CON FIDENCE IN
LAW ENFORCEMENT
The bill requires DESPP and POST to report to the Public Safety and
Security Committee by January 1, 2024, on the following:
1. (a) whether POST has cancelled or revoked a police officer’s
certification for conduct that undermines public confidence in
law enforcement and (b) an explanation of the circumstances
related to each cancellation or revocation;
2. whether POST has considered but declined to cancel or revoke a
police officer’s certification for this conduct and the
circumstances related to these instances;
3. whether existing law on this subject, including POST guidance
(i.e., POST General Notice 20-09, see below), provides sufficient
guidance to police officers and law enforcement units on the
types of conduct that undermine public confidence in law
enforcement, and the disciplinary actions that should be taken in
response to different types of this conduct; and
4. any recommendations for revising the existing law or POST’s
guidelines on this subject.
Under existing law, POST may cancel or revoke a police officer’s
certification if, among other things, the officer is found by a law
enforcement unit to have engaged in conduct that undermines public
confidence in law enforcement. Examples of this conduct include
discriminatory conduct, falsifying reports, issuing unlawful orders,
failing to report or timely report a death, and violating the Alvin W.
Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act (CGS § 7-294d(c)(2)(I)). 2023HB-06840-R000369-BA.DOCX
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BACKGROUND
Statutory Prohibition on Intentional Recordings
The law prohibits police officers from using body cameras to
intentionally record the following occurrences or situations, unless an
agreement between the officer’s agency and the federal government
provides otherwise:
1. communications with State Police, municipal police department,
or public university or college special police force personnel
unless recorded within the performance of the officers’ duties;
2. encounters with undercover officers or informants, or an officer
performing detective work;
3. officers on break or engaged in personal activities;
4. people undergoing medical or psychological evaluations,
procedures, or treatments;
5. people, other than criminal suspects, in a hospital or medical
facility; or
6. people in a mental health facility, unless responding to a call
involving a criminal suspect in the facility.
DESPP-POST Use Guidelines
The DESPP commissioner and POST must jointly issue guidelines on
using body cameras, retaining their data, and storing the data safely and
securely. The guidelines were most recently updated in 2022 and,
among other things, establish beginning and end of shift procedures and
directions on when officers may or must deactivate their cameras. They
incorporate the above intentional recording prohibitions and also
prohibit recording the following:
1. private conversations to which the officer is not a party;
2. telephonic conversations unless specifically authorized by law
while in the performance of their official duties; 2023HB-06840-R000369-BA.DOCX
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3. strip searches; and
4. while in a locker room, changing room or restroom, unless
confronting a violent or assaultive suspect or in an incident
involving the anticipated use of force.
The guidelines also allow deactivation of body cameras if officers
determine that, based on the circumstances, an investigation could be
significantly hampered if the recording were to continue. However, they
direct officers, whenever possible, to (1) record on the camera the reason
for interrupting or ending the recording before deactivating the camera
and (2) document the event in the officer’s report. Additionally, they
require officers to reactivate their cameras as soon as practical (POST
General Notice 22-05).
Related Bill
sSB 1222, reported favorably by the Government Administration and
Elections Committee, (1) sets additional requirements for redacting and
disclosing body and dashboard camera recordings and (2) establishes a
fee schedule for redacting the recordings.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety and Security Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 23 Nay 2 (03/16/2023)