Legislation

We're committed to policy solutions that protect marginalized communities from violence. We cannot, though, support efforts that increase violence by increasing existing overpolicing of marginalized communities.

As introduced, this bill requires amendments if it is to truly help Connecticut to step away from harmful policing.

While no one wants to see any animal injured or killed at the hands of a human, doubling the potential penalty for this category of offense is not the answer.

Militarized policing harms communities and people. They should be defunded, not prioritized through sweetheart immunity deals for collaborators.

The ACLU-CT firmly opposes increasing to police funding, and as a result must oppose Section 6 of Senate Bill 241. This part of the bill unnecessarily appropriates five million dollars to fund additional environmental conservation police officers in order to increase aquatic policing efforts.

House Bill 5349 is a good initial step toward police accountability by requiring the timely reporting of a death to the next of kin by police officers—a measure that should have already been in place.

We have significant concerns with House Bill 5372 because of the its failure to reduce the role of policing in our communities, particularly with regard to some of our most vulnerable residents when they are in need of medical care for a mental health crisis.

House Bill 5351 rolls back too many needed accountability provisions and re-expands opportunities for police searches not even two years after the police accountability bill was enacted. Accordingly, the ACLU-CT strongly opposes House Bill 5351 and urges this Committee to oppose it as well.

Senate Bill 304 includes numerous strong provisions that increase accountability for police while decreasing their role, including provisions regarding school resource officers, secondary traffic violations, and more.