Connecticut HB 5428: AN ACT CONCERNING THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.

Bill Text

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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5428
February Session, 2026

AN ACT CONCERNING THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE
OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 51-277a of the 2026 supplement to the general 1
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2
(Effective from passage): 3
(a) (1) Whenever a peace officer, in the performance of such officer's 4
duties, uses physical force upon another person and such person dies as 5
a result thereof or uses deadly physical force, as defined in section 53a-6
3, upon another person, the Division of Criminal Justice shall cause an 7
investigation to be made and the Inspector General shall have the 8
responsibility of determining whether the use of physical force by the 9
peace officer was justifiable under section 53a-22. The use of an 10
electronic defense weapon, as defined in section 53a-3, by a peace officer 11
shall not be considered deadly physical force for purposes of this 12
section. 13
(2) (A) Except as provided under subdivision (1) of this subsection, 14
whenever a person dies [in the] within the physical custody of a peace 15
officer or law enforcement agency, the Inspector General shall 16
investigate and determine whether physical force was used by a peace 17
officer upon the deceased person, and if so, whether the use of physical 18
force by the peace officer was justifiable under section 53a-22. If the 19

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Inspector General determines the deceased person may have died as a 20
result of criminal action not involving the use of force by a peace officer, 21
the Inspector General shall refer such case to the Chief State's Attorney 22
or a state's attorney for potential prosecution. 23
(B) Except as provided under subdivision (1) of this subsection or 24
subparagraph (A) of subdivision (2) of this subsection, whenever a 25
person dies [in the] within the physical custody of the Commissioner of 26
Correction, the Inspector General shall investigate and determine 27
whether the deceased person may have died as a result of criminal 28
action, and, if so, refer such case to the Chief State's Attorney or a state's 29
attorney for potential prosecution. The Inspector General may issue a 30
report concerning the death of such person, which may include, but 31
need not be limited to, any recommended future action to be taken by 32
said commissioner. 33
(3) Whenever a person who (A) is a next of kin of a deceased person, 34
(B) is not notified of such deceased person's death as required pursuant 35
to section 7-294mm and no other person who is a next of kin of the 36
deceased person was so notified, and (C) requests of the Office of the 37
Inspector General an investigation of the lack of notification or timely 38
notification of such death, the Inspector General shall investigate and 39
determine whether there was any malfeasance on the part of a peace 40
officer or a supervisor of the peace officer in the failure to provide such 41
notification or timely notification, and if so, may make 42
recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council 43
established under section 7-294b concerning censure, suspension, 44
renewal, cancelation or revocation of the peace officer's or supervisor's 45
certification, provided any such recommendation may be made to said 46
council only in a case where such failure is found to be intentional or 47
made with reckless indifference. If there is no finding that such failure 48
was intentional or made with reckless indifference, a recommendation 49
may be made to the officer's or supervisor's employing agency for any 50
further disciplinary action as so determined by such employing agency. 51
(4) The Inspector General shall request the appropriate law 52

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enforcement agency to provide such assistance as is necessary to 53
investigate and make a determination under subdivision (1), (2) or (3) of 54
this subsection. 55
(5) Whenever a peace officer, in the performance of such officer's 56
duties, uses physical force or deadly physical force upon another person 57
and such person dies as a result thereof, the Inspector General shall 58
complete a preliminary status report that shall include, but need not be 59
limited to, (A) the name of the deceased person, (B) the gender, race, 60
ethnicity and age of the deceased person, (C) the date, time and location 61
of the injury causing such death, (D) the law enforcement agency 62
involved, (E) the status on the toxicology report, if available, and (F) the 63
death certificate, if available. The Inspector General shall complete the 64
report and submit a copy of such report not later than five business days 65
after the cause of the death is available to the Chief State's Attorney and, 66
in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing 67
committees