Connecticut House approves police accountability measures
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut House of Representatives on Friday approved a wide-ranging police accountability proposal following an emotional all-night debate, marked by an attempt that narrowly failed to strip a contentious section that would reduce legal immunity protections for police officers.
The House voted 86-58 in favor of the bill and sent it to the state Senate, a day after hundreds of police officers rallied at the Capitol to protest portions of the legislation which they said will ultimately lead to more retirements, recruitment challenges and officers not responding to calls. Proponents, on the other hand, emphatically argued the legislation is long past due, given the racial inequities inequities in the state and the injustices minority residents experience daily.
“I believe police need to be accountable,” said Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, a Black police officer who said he has been followed and has been warned by fellow officers in recent weeks to “be careful” and to “watch what I say" as he considered the legislation.
“I speak loudly to police officers that are doing good. We are proud of you,” he said. “We like what you're doing in our community. But we have bad apples.”
The Senate is expected to take up that and three other bills Tuesday.
The police accountability bill, originally negotiated between both Democrats and Republicans, calls for reforming police practices and training in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and other Black people. It includes a new inspector general to investigate police use-of-force cases, periodic mental health screenings for officers, new limits on circumstances in which deadly use of force is justified, mandatory body cameras for all officers in the state and training on implicit bias.
The most contentious section, opposed by police and municipal leaders, would change state law to allow civil lawsuits against officers when they violate someone's civil rights. Officers would not be allowed to claim government immunity as a defense to the lawsuits, unless they had an “objectively good faith belief” that their conduct did not violate the law.
Municipalities and police departments, not officers, would have to pay any legal awards, but officers would be held personally liable if their conduct was found to be “malicious, wanton or willful,” according to the bill.
Police leaders say the provision would prompt many officers to resign or retire and deter people from becoming officers. The section also was opposed by Republican lawmakers.
An amendment to delete that provision from the bill failed on a tie vote.
In another change to state law, the bill also would require officers to exhaust all reasonable alternatives before using deadly force while making arrests or preventing escapes, and to reasonably believe the force used would not injure any third party.
The proposal also would limit the use of chokeholds and other restraints that impair breathing to situations where officers believe they are necessary to protect themselves from the imminent use of deadly force. And officers would be required to intervene when they see other officers using excessive force and report the misconduct to their superiors.
Bridgeport Democratic Rep. Steve Stafstrom, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called the bill a “comprehensive package that will bring much-needed, commonsense transparency and accountability into Connecticut's police departments.”
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Associated Press writer Dave Collins contributed to this report.