Bolinsky, House Republicans Offer Proposals Aimed at Growing Law Enforcement Ranks and Improving Public Safety

HARTFORD- Today, State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) voted in favor of the collectively bargained agreement between the state of Connecticut and the CT State Police Union which looks to help retain police officers statewide and recruit more women and men into the field of law enforcement.

“There’s been an unprecedented number of State Troopers leaving the force over the past couple years and, at the moment, Connecticut finds itself understaffed and under-protected in our state’s premier law enforcement agency. That’s a huge concern I want to see rectified,” said Rep. Bolinsky. With this new contract, negotiators considered competing factors at neighboring, peer State Police Departments, as well as at our state’s larger regional police forces. We’ve been assured that this new contract will help attract solid recruiting classes and return our Connecticut State Police to full-strength in two or three-years.”

Bolinsky added, “I also believe that money is not everything and, my colleagues and I are proposing a small number of policy reforms to further support law enforcement and improve public safety.”

The House Republican proposals to which Bolinsky referred are spread across three bills before the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee; from restoring an officer’s ability to perform consent searches during motor vehicle stops to creating a fund to compensate the families of officers who are killed in the line of duty. 

House Republican Proposals on Supporting Law Enforcement 

• Protect law enforcement and municipalities from being forced to settle in qualified immunity cases because any denial under current law bars them from appealing that decision until after jury decision. (HB 5361)
• Evaluate the use of force from the perspective of a reasonable officer in the same situation, based on the totality of the circumstances known to or perceived by the officer at the time, rather than with the benefit of hindsight, and that the totality of the circumstances shall account for occasions when officers may be forced to make quick judgments about the use of force. (HB 5361)
• Provide clarity and list circumstances under which police can be decertified for undermining public confidence. (HB 5362)
• Restore the ability for police to request consent searches during motor vehicle stops when there is reasonable suspicion of a crime. (HB 5361)
• Require P.O.S.T. to rewrite the police pursuit policy to allow pursuit of property crime offenses. (HB 5361)
• Create a special account for families of officers killed in action. (HB 5363)