(a) Until December 31, 2024, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, established under section 7-294b, and the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the commissioner's designee, shall jointly develop, adopt and revise, as necessary, minimum standards and practices for the administration and management of law enforcement units, as defined in section 7-294a. Such minimum standards and practices shall be based upon standards established by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., and shall include, but need not be limited to, standards and practices regarding bias-based policing, use of force, response to crimes of family violence, use of body-worn recording equipment, complaints that allege misconduct by police officers, use of electronic defense weapons, eyewitness identification procedures, notifications in death and related events and pursuits by police officers. The council shall post such minimum standards and practices on the council's Internet web site and disseminate such standards and practices to law enforcement units. The council and commissioner or the commissioner's designee shall jointly develop a process to review a law enforcement unit's compliance with such minimum standards and practices and issue a certificate of compliance with law enforcement standards and practices to a law enforcement unit that meets or exceeds such standards and practices.
(b) On and after January 1, 2019, and until December 31, 2024, each law enforcement unit shall adopt and maintain (1) the minimum standards and practices developed by the council pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or (2) a higher level of accreditation standards developed by the council or the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.
(c) On and after January 1, 2025, each law enforcement unit shall obtain and maintain accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. If a law enforcement unit fails to obtain or maintain such accreditation, the council shall work with the law enforcement unit to obtain and maintain such accreditation.
(d) No civil action may be brought against a law enforcement unit for damages arising from the failure of the law enforcement unit to (1) adopt and maintain such minimum standards and practices or a higher level of accreditation standards pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, or (2) obtain and maintain accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.
(P.A. 18-161, S. 2; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-1, S. 44.)
History: P.A. 18-161 effective January 1, 2019; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-1 amended Subsec. (a) to add “Until December 31, 2024, the”, delete “, within available appropriations, and make a technical change”, amended Subsec. (b) to add “and until December 31, 2024,”, added new Subsec. (c) re accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., and redesignated existing Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d) and amended same by designating existing provision as Subdiv. (1) and adding Subdiv. (2) re accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., effective July 31, 2020.