Hotline Newletter Volume 18 Number 1 April 2007 ( PDF Version)

Legislative Update

Bills Lobbied and Defeated by CPCA

SB 330 Act Concerning the Use ofthe Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Device

This bill would have permitted Segway devices on all municipality sidewalks and roads and forced municipalities to opt out of statewide law.

HB 5209 An Act Concerning Youthful Offender Proceedings

Specifically, it expands the crimes that if committed by a youth will render them ineligible for youthful offender (YO) status, permits courts to transfer cases from adult court to the YO docket without a hearing; requiresa court to consider a youth’s prior history when determining whether to grant YO status; and caps the number of years a youth can spend on probation or conditional discharge.

SB 308 Act Concerning Temporary StatePistol Permits

The bill required more specific informationin pistol permit applications and gave more power to DPS and less to local municipalityon what is required on the application.

SB 595 Act Concerning Eyewitness Identification Procedures

Revising eyewitness identification by establishing procedures for conducting a police lineup including having a lineup administrator who does not know the identity of the suspect, informing the eyewitness thatthe perpetrator might not be in the lineup and presenting the lineup members sequentially rather than simultaneously.

SB 592 Act Limiting Law Enforcement Access to Recorded Information in “Black Box” Event Data Recorders in Motor Vehicles

To prevent law enforcement officials of certain “event data recorder” or “black box” information from passenger motor vehicles without consent or a valid search warrant.CPCA revised the original bill so that no warrant or authorization was needed to access the black box when there was a fatality.

5743 Act Concerning the Establishment of a Training and Certification Program for Municipal Animal Control Officers

Require the Agriculture Commissioner, with-out POST consultation, to certify through a training program the regional and municipal animal control officers (local ACOs). The bill specifies that POST have no jurisdiction over state or local ACOs. This bill would essentially allow the Agriculture Commissioner to develop training programs for state and local ACOs although POST currently trains local ACOs and believes that they can train all state ACOs, as long as the state paysfor another salaried trainer at POST.

Bill That Failed as a Resultof Legislative Inaction

5818 An Act Concerning Lost or StolenFirearms

To require that when a firearm is not in the actual physical possession of the owner it be stored or kept in a manner so as to reduce the risk that it will be stolen or otherwise come into the possession of another person, require the reporting of the loss or theft of a firearm to a law enforcement agency and provide that evidence that a pistol or revolver was found not in the possession of the owner thereof is prima facie evidencethat the owner had transferred such pistol orrevolver without proper application and authorization. This bill is still too controversial for passage.

Bills Amended or Lobbied by CPCA and Signed by the Governor

PA 06-94 Act Concerning Liquor Permitsand Investigations Regarding Inducing Minors to Procure Liquor

The bill passed only after CPCA lobbied tohave the section removed where liquor control agents could perform stings with outlocal law enforcement present. This bill follows the usual pattern of liquor control agents trying to increase their power. Inyears past, they have tried to get policepowers, which CPCA effectively has lobbied against. (Effective October 1, 2006)PA 06-130 Department of Motor Vehicles Prohibiting the use of mini-motorcycles on highways, public sidewalks, and public property and corrects some ambiguities in current law. (Effective from passage on June 2,2006)

PA 06-173 Blood or Breath Tests of Surviving Operators Involved in Motor Vehicle Accidents and Prohibiting Persons Facilitating Illegal Street Racing

Expands the circumstances under which asurvivor of a serious accident, resulting in death or injury, must give a blood or breath sample. (Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-111 The Filing, Storage and Disposition of the Fingerprints and Photographs of Arrested Persons

The bill eliminates the requirement that law enforcement officials include a photograph (not taken electronically) on the standard identification card submitted to the State Police Bureau of Identification. Only when photographs or fingerprints are captured by electronic means must they be immediately transmitted to the bureau. (Effective frompassage on June 2, 2006)

PA 06-70 Act Concerning the Appointmentof Special Conservation Officers

The law allows the DPS Commissioner toappoint any lake patrolman as a special conservation officer, solely to enforce boating laws within the patrolman’s jurisdiction, provided he (1) is not considered a state employee and (2) has completed a police training course at the state police training school or an equivalent course approved by the DPS Commissioner. CPCA made sure that the language “equivalent course” was added so as not to single out just the state police training program and that there is an Attorney General opinion that all law enforcement officials must complete training. (Effective from passage on May 30, 2006)

PA 06-151 Concerning an Emergency Protocol and the Appointment of State Police Personnel

Requires DPS to develop a method to communicate directly with local chief elected officials, and when bomb detection personnel respond to any location because of a threat received at the state level, the bill requires DPS immediately to notify the local police chief of the location. (Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-106 Act Concerning Remission of Fines to Towns for Traffic Violations

Provide more equitable reimbursement to towns for cost in time and man power in issuing moving violations and attending court proceedings. Also provides an incentive to police departments to enforce moving violations, thereby increasing public safety on the roads. (Effective July 1, 2006)

HB 5047 Act Establishing the Urban Violence Reduction Grant Program

CPCA ensured that there was local law enforcement representation on the task force and that decision making was shared. The original proposal would have allowed the state to enter municipal jurisdictions without local approval. This bill was amended into the budget bill that passed. (Effective upon passage in May 2006)

President's Message - Chief Harry W. Rilling

Our Organization Needs You!

During my remarks at our Annual Meeting in June, I spoke of the importance of being an active member of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. If everyone pulls together toward the same goals and objectives, the results can be remarkable.

We are embarking on a recruitment drive and are asking for your participation. One way you can help is to encourage new membership among senior staff and interested persons in your community who support law enforcement. If each chief would simply sponsor two new members, more than $20,000 would be added to our coffers.

I have appointed Chief Kevin Hale of Ansonia, CPCA president-elect, to chair a committeeto review the benefits available to survivors of police officers who lose their lives in the lineof duty. The committee needs additional members. If you are interested, please contact ChiefHale.

Please make every effort to attend the Fall Meeting, September 13, 2006 at Giovanni’s II, abeautiful waterside facility on the Darien/Stamford line. Thanks to Bill Chizmadia and FairAuto Supply for sponsoring the event.

In closing, let me state, again, how proud I am to serve you and this organization. I am surethe coming year will bring many challenges. Together we can make positive changes in thelives of the officers who serve us and the communities we serve. I truly look forward to beinga part of those changes.

May God bless you all and may God bless this great and glorious nation.

Chief Harry W. Rilling, Norwalk Police Department
President of CPCA

New Chiefs
CPCA welcomes the following new police chiefs:
Chief Robert J. Gagne – Orange
Chief Jeffrey A. Getz – State of ConnecticutJudicial Branch
Chief David J. Peck – Fairfield
Chief Daryl K. Roberts – Hartford
Chief Thomas J. Wydra – Hamden

New Members
Senior Management

Herman Badger
Assistant Chief/Operations
New Haven Police Department

Matthew Catania
Captain/Operations
Simsbury Police Department

Raul Camejo
Captain
DEP

James Lawrence Kenny
Captain
Vernon Police Department

Richard Lewis
Captain
DEP

Roy A. Nelson
Captain
Cromwell Police Department

Kyle Overturf
Captain
DEP

William P. Palmieri
Captain
Southington Police Department

Joseph P. Popovich
Deputy Chief
Cheshire Police Department

Stephanie Redding
Assistant Chief
New Haven Police Department

Gregory J. Simone
Captain
Southington Police Department