Bill Text: CT HB05223 | 2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Pursuits By Police Officers.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-23 - Public Hearing 02/27 [HB05223 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2018-HB05223-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 5223
February Session, 2018		LCO No. 1326
		*01326_______PS_*
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)

AN ACT CONCERNING PURSUITS BY POLICE OFFICERS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 14-283a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2018):

(a) As used in this section, "police officer" means a sworn member of an organized local police department or a state police officer, which member or officer is assigned to patrol duties on public streets or highways, [and] "pursuit" means an attempt by a police officer in an authorized emergency vehicle to apprehend any occupant of another moving motor vehicle, when the driver of the fleeing motor vehicle is attempting to avoid apprehension by maintaining or increasing the speed of such vehicle or by ignoring the police officer's attempt to stop such vehicle, "serious felony offense" has the same meaning as provided in section 54-82t and "serious physical injury" has the same meaning as provided in section 53a-3.

(b) The Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, in conjunction with the Chief State's Attorney, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and the Connecticut Coalition of Police and Correctional Officers, shall adopt, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, a uniform, state-wide policy for handling pursuits by police officers. Such policy shall specify: (1) The conditions under which a police officer may initiate or engage in a pursuit and discontinue a pursuit, (2) alternative measures to be employed by any such police officer in order to apprehend any occupant of the fleeing motor vehicle or to impede the movement of such motor vehicle, (3) the coordination and responsibility, including control over the pursuit, of supervisory personnel and the police officer engaged in such pursuit, (4) in the case of a pursuit that may proceed and continue into another municipality, (A) the requirement to notify and the procedures to be used to notify the police department in such other municipality or, if there is no organized police department in such other municipality, the officers responsible for law enforcement in such other municipality, that there is a pursuit in progress, and (B) the coordination and responsibility of supervisory personnel in each such municipality and the police officer engaged in such pursuit, (5) the type and amount of training in pursuits, that each police officer shall undergo, which may include training in vehicle simulators, if vehicle simulator training is determined to be necessary, and (6) that a police officer immediately notify supervisory personnel or the officer in charge after the police officer begins a pursuit. The chief of police or Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, as the case may be, shall inform each officer within such chief's or said commissioner's department and each officer responsible for law enforcement in a municipality in which there is no such department of the existence of the policy of pursuit to be employed by any such officer and shall take whatever measures that are necessary to assure that each such officer understands the [pursuit] policy established.

(c) No police officer shall initiate or engage in a pursuit except when: (1) Authorized by supervisory personnel, and (2) the driver or other occupant of the fleeing motor vehicle is suspected of the commission of a serious felony offense.

(d) An organized local police department shall not establish additional or different requirements for handling pursuits by police officers employed by such department than the requirements adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, except that a department may prohibit such police officers from initiating or engaging in pursuits.

(e) The chief of police or Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, as the case may be, shall submit a report to the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division within the Office of Policy and Management not later than thirty days after a pursuit by a police officer within such chief's or commissioner's department results in the serious physical injury or death of another person. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, the name of the police officer who initiated or engaged in the pursuit, the time and place of the pursuit, the reason for initiating or engaging in the pursuit, a description of what occurred during the pursuit and the names of any known victims or witnesses of the pursuit.

Sec. 2. Section 14-223 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2018):

(a) Whenever the operator of any motor vehicle fails promptly to bring [his] such operator's motor vehicle to a full stop upon the signal of any officer in uniform or prominently displaying [the badge of his office] such officer's badge, or disobeys the direction of such officer with relation to the operation of [his] such operator's motor vehicle, [he] such operator shall be deemed to have committed an infraction and be fined fifty dollars.

(b) No person operating a motor vehicle, when signaled to stop by an officer in a police vehicle using an audible signal device or flashing or revolving lights, shall increase the speed of the motor vehicle in an attempt to escape or elude such police officer. Any person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a class [A misdemeanor] E felony, except that, if any such violation causes the death or serious physical injury, as defined in section 53a-3, of another person, such person shall be guilty of a class C felony, and shall have such person's motor vehicle operator's license suspended for one year for the first offense, except that the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles may, after a hearing, as provided for in subsection (i) of section 14-111, and upon a showing of compelling mitigating circumstances, reinstate such person's license before the expiration of such one-year period. For any subsequent offense such person shall be guilty of a class C felony, except that if any prior offense by such person under this subsection caused, and such subsequent offense causes, the death or serious physical injury [, as defined in section 53a-3,] of another person, such person shall be guilty of a class C felony for which one year of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court, and shall have such person's motor vehicle operator's license suspended for not less than eighteen months nor more than two years, except that said commissioner may, after a hearing, as provided for in subsection (i) of section 14-111, and upon a showing of compelling mitigating circumstances, reinstate such person's license before such period.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	July 1, 2018	14-283a
Sec. 2	October 1, 2018	14-223

Statement of Purpose:

To (1) permit a police officer to initiate or engage in a pursuit in an authorized motor vehicle only when the driver or occupant of the fleeing vehicle is suspected of the commission of a serious felony offense, (2) require organized local police departments to adhere to the state-wide policy for pursuits by police officers, (3) require the chief of police or Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, as the case may be, to submit a report when a pursuit by a police officer results in the serious physical injury or death of another person, and (4) increase the penalty for increasing the speed of a motor vehicle in an attempt to escape or elude a police officer from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]