The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Police reform effort in peril over immunity issue
Amid claims that cops might resign and young people could be discouraged from joining law enforcement, support for a major section of the General Assembly’s police accountability bill is dwindling among Democrats and Republicans alike.
Some Democrats in the state Senate have balked at the so-called qualified immunity part of the sweeping police reform bill, under which cops would lose protection from lawsuits.
As a result, the entire bill — which was catapulted forward after the killing of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis — is now in peril, with frantic negotiations underway as the legislature began its week-long special session Tuesday.
At issue is whether some form of the bill can be salvaged as many lawmakers say severely limiting immunity from lawsuits is a step too far and others say it’s a crucial measure.
“I’ve heard a lot of push back on that, on both sides of the aisle in the legislature,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday afternoon.
“And anything that jeopardizes that bill, I think, let’s put that on pause. Let’s have a task force or something to look into it. Let’s pass what we can now.
“I think the bill is very strong without the qualified immunity.”
The governor recently expressed to legislative leaders for the first time his opposition to ending the protections for individual officers from lawsuits resulting from police violence.
Opposition surfaced from lawmakers, including state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, in the 22-member Senate Democratic majority, which is scheduled to act on the bill next Tuesday after a scheduled House vote Thursday.
At least one lawmaker familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday that if the immunity section is dropped, “You have to put something else in there to strengthen it.”
The state House of Representatives is scheduled to act on four major bills on Thursday, including the police reforms.
Sources say that support in the House majority has also softened for that section of the police legislation, which overall includes a ban on choke holds, mandatory body and dashboard cameras, an inspector general to oversee investigations into police misconduct that can lead to lifetime bans for rogue cops, and local review organizations with subpoena power.
“I have asked that we put it to task force and report back at the next legislative session, so it can have a more open process,” Osten said Tuesday afternoon of the section on immunity.
“There are many other good things in that police accountability bill that I think would make the changes people want to make in terms of action in law enforcement.”
Qualified immunity generally means a police officer who follows training and accepted practice cannot be sued for adverse incidents — but the issue is a gray area of the law.
Osten, a retired prison officer and former Sprague first selectman, said typical police officers “do not have deep pockets,” and that current law allows victims of police abuse to file lawsuits against towns, cities and police departments.
During a public hearing last week on the proposal, police organizations stressed that they bargained collectively to include such protections in their contracts.
“Look, it’s a really important bill,” Lamont said during an unrelated news conference in Windsor. “Especially given what this country has gone through over the last month since George Floyd.
“And it accomplishes some amazingly important things, one of which is, for the first time, we can hold police accountable.”
Many lawmakers, particularly urban and minority legislators, have pointed to the Black Lives Matter movement as a crucial reason to meet in special session and act after years of law enforcement homicides.
Negotiations on the immunity section, as well as the overall bill, remain active.