(a) There is established the Office of the Inspector General that shall be an independent office within the Division of Criminal Justice. Not later than October 1, 2020, the Criminal Justice Commission established pursuant to section 51-275a shall nominate a deputy chief state's attorney from within the division as Inspector General who, subject to appointment by the General Assembly pursuant to subsection (c) or (d) of this section, shall lead the Office of the Inspector General. The office shall: (1) Conduct investigations of peace officers in accordance with section 51-277a; (2) prosecute any case in which the Inspector General determines a peace officer used force found to not be justifiable pursuant to section 53a-22 or where a police officer or correctional officer fails to intervene in any such incident or to report any such incident, as required under subsection (a) of section 7-282e or section 18-81nn, as applicable; and (3) make recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council established under section 7-294b concerning censure and suspension, renewal, cancelation or revocation of a peace officer's certification.
(b) The Inspector General shall serve a term of four years. On or before the date of the expiration of the term of the Inspector General or upon the occurrence of a vacancy in the Office of the Inspector General for any reason, the Criminal Justice Commission shall nominate a deputy chief state's attorney from within the Division of Criminal Justice to fill that vacancy. The commission shall not be precluded from renominating an individual who has previously served as Inspector General. The Inspector General shall, upon nomination by the commission, be appointed by the General Assembly pursuant to subsection (c) or (d) of this section.
(c) Each nomination made by the Criminal Justice Commission to the General Assembly for Inspector General shall be referred, without debate, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the judiciary, which shall report on the nomination not later than thirty legislative days from the time of reference, but no later than seven legislative days before the adjourning of the General Assembly. An appointment by the General Assembly of an Inspector General shall be by concurrent resolution. The action on the passage of each such resolution in the House and in the Senate shall be by vote taken on the electrical roll-call device. The commission shall, not later than five days after receiving notice that a nomination for Inspector General has failed to be approved by the affirmative concurrent action of both houses of the General Assembly, make another nomination for Inspector General.
(d) No vacancy in the position of Inspector General shall be filled by the Criminal Justice Commission when the General Assembly is not in session unless, prior to such filling, the commission submits the name of the proposed vacancy appointee to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the judiciary. Within forty-five days, the committee on the judiciary may, upon the call of either chairman, hold a special meeting for the purpose of approving or disapproving such proposed vacancy appointee by majority vote. Failure of the committee to act on such proposed vacancy appointee within such forty-five-day period shall be deemed to be an approval. Any appointment made pursuant to this subsection shall be in effect until the sixth Wednesday of the next regular session of the General Assembly, and until a successor is appointed.
(e) A deputy chief state's attorney nominated for the position of Inspector General by the Criminal Justice Commission shall serve as interim Inspector General pending appointment by the General Assembly.
(f) An Inspector General may be removed or otherwise disciplined only in accordance with section 51-278b.
(g) The Inspector General may issue subpoenas to municipalities, law enforcement units, as defined in section 7-294, the Department of Correction and any employee or former employee of the municipality, unit or department (1) requiring the production of reports, records or other documents concerning an investigation described in subsection (a) of this section that is undertaken by the Inspector General, and (2) compelling the attendance and testimony of any person having knowledge pertinent to such investigation.
(h) A chief of police of a municipality, the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the Commissioner of Correction may refer and the Inspector General shall accept any such referral of an incident described in subsection (a) of this section for purposes of an investigation.
(i) The Office of the Inspector General shall be at a location that is separate from the locations of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney or any of the state's attorneys for the judicial districts.
(j) The Inspector General may employ necessary staff to fulfil the duties of the Office of the Inspector General described in subsection (a) of this section. Such staff shall be selected from staff of the Division of Criminal Justice by the Inspector General and shall include, but not be limited to, an assistant state's attorney or a deputy assistant state's attorney, an inspector and administrative staff. As needed by and upon request of the Inspector General, the Office of the Chief State's Attorney shall ensure assistance from additional assistant state's attorneys or deputy assistant state's attorneys, inspectors and administrative staff.
(k) The Inspector General and any staff employed by the Office of the Inspector General, who is not in a bargaining unit established pursuant to sections 5-270 to 5-280, inclusive, shall, upon completion of employment with the office of the Inspector General be transferred back to the Division of Criminal Justice into a position equivalent or comparable to the position such person held in the division prior to being employed by the Office of the Inspector General. Upon such transfer back to the division, such person shall be compensated at the same level such person was compensated immediately prior to being transferred back to the division.
(July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-1, S. 33.)
History: July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-1 effective July 31, 2020 (Revisor's note: In codifying this section, an incorrect reference to “section 42 of this act” was deemed by the Revisors to be a reference to “section 43” and codified as section 18-81nn).