Law would limit police use of force
Proposed legislation would boost transparency
Following two controversial police-involved shootings in New Haven and Wethersfield, state Sen. Gary Winfield has drafted legislation to increase police transparency and limit some uses of force.
A New Haven Democrat, Winfield has held closeddoor meetings with police groups and their lobbyists to draw up these proposed changes, which would greatly increase the availability of public information after police use force.
He decided to act after a Hamden police officer and Yale University cop shot and injured a 22-year-old unarmed black woman who was riding in a car in New Haven with her boyfriend, who was suspected of being involved in an armed robbery. That shooting on April 16 caused hundreds of people to protest and drew calls for a “thorough investigation” from Winfield and Senate President Pro Tempore, D-New Haven.
Just four days later on April 20, Wethersfield police shot an 18-year-old driver at a traffic stop, who later died.
“It’s difficult to make anything happen on this front in a short period of time, but I just think I’m going to make as much of an effort as possible to force the conversation in this building,” said Winfield, chair of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Though his ideas never received a public hearing, Winfield believes his amendment will receive a vote in the Senate next week.
The legislation specifies that body camera videos shall be made public “immediately” after the officer and
his attorney has an opportunity to review them, in cases where police force is used or an officers’ behavior is being investigated.
Winfield’s proposal also would require all police use-of-force incident reports to be sent to the state Office of Policy and Management starting in February 2020. These reports include information about situations in which police behaviors could cause physical injury to the public, like shooting a gun other than in training, striking a person, using pepper spray or a Taser. Winfield also adds the use of a chokehold to this list.
Similarly, the legislation states whenever an officer’s use of force causes a death, the state’s Division of Criminal Justice will issue a report on that death — including the victim’s name and race and details about the incident — to the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. After the investigation of a state prosecutor, a report about whether the use of force was warranted will also be made public online, not just shared with state and town official as current law says.
Importantly, Winfield’s proposal also would update state law about when police use of force to make an arrest is justifiable. Current statutes say police can use physical force if they have a reasonable belief that someone committed an offense under law.
Winfield wants to add another provision to this specifying that the kind of force an officer chooses to use also be reasonable given the circumstances. He called this a “fundamental change.”
“To give a hyperbolic situation, the officer is correct in using force but the force the officer used is not correct, so just because you’re life is in danger doesn’t mean you can get a tank to go run somebody over,” said Winfield. “So to my mind, it need to be a two prong versus a one-prong test (on use of force).”
The proposal would prevent police from shooting at a fleeing motor vehicle during a pursuit or intentionally putting their body in front of a fleeing car.
Finally, Winfield’s legislation would convene a task force to recommend other changes to increase police transparency and accountability. The task force, appointed by the legislature, would examine police interactions with the mentally disabled, the feasibility of officers issuing receipts at traffic stops including the reason for the stop and demographic information on the civilian stopped and the state police on police pursuits, among other issues.
Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford, said using this task force to look at police pursuits would be redundant because a working group examining police pursuits is already being convened.
But Verrengia, a former cop and chair of the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee, otherwise supported Winfield’s proposal.
“In general, it’s a step in the right direction. With the recent incidents in the state, it makes us want to see if we can do things better,” he said. “This isn’t an anti-police bill.”
Rep. J.P. Sredzinkski, R-Monroe, a dispatcher of first responders, had several concerns about the legislation, including whether releasing body camera videos too soon would jeopardize police investigations into crimes and personnel behavior. He thought the governor should have an appointment on the police transparency task force and incident reports should be sent to the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
“Very few good bills are rushed to completion,” said Sredzinski. “This bill is a statute that would impact every municipality, every law enforcement agency and we need to make sure we get it right. So I understand the timing of it and I understand the response, but I am concerned it has not been able to go through the process.”
Paul Melanson, Farmington’s police chief and chair of the Connecticut Police Chief Association’s legislative committee, said they are evaluating this proposal.
“We appreciate the respect and opportunity we have been provided by Sen. Winfield,” Melanson said. “We look forward to the collaboration in order to make Connecticut policing the model for the rest of the nation.”