Legislation

The ACLU-CT believes that due to systemic racism in policing across the country, the most effective way to keep communities of color safe from overpolicing and police violence is to reimagine the role of police.

One step towards eradicating police killings is to make the law clear that police are authorized to use deadly force only in narrow situations, rather than giving police wide latitude to shoot, beat, Tase, or otherwise injure or kill people.

This proposal would pay lip service to protecting police and corrections workers without actually doing so. It is an unnecessary distraction from efforts to improve safety. Unlike crimes against other groups, there is no history of crimes against public safety employees being under-prosecuted.

As an organization committed to defending civil liberties under the U.S. and Connecticut Constitutions, the ACLU-CT strongly supports measures to ensure transparent public safety practices. House Bill 5922 would increase transparency regarding police uses of force in Connecticut.

S.B. 402 recognizes the state's police complaint process is broken. Rather than forcing police misconduct victims to navigate a confusing process, wait for years, and never see complaints resolved, the legislature should pass this bill to create a state office to handle complaints against police.

In Connecticut, family members and friends of people killed by police, and the public, wait an average of 14 months for the release of an investigative final public report on a fatal shooting incident. Some have been forced to wait three years. We encourage the legislature to support H.B. 5757.