AN ACT CONCERNING THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.

House of Representatives
sHB5428 / File No. 599 1

General Assembly File No. 599
February Session, 2026 Substitute House Bill No. 5428

House of Representatives, April 13, 2026

The Committee on Judiciary reported through REP.
STAFSTROM of the 129th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee
on the part of the House, that the substitute bill ought to pass.

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statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2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
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(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
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
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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
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 of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 68
relating to the judiciary and public safety. 69
(b) Upon the conclusion of the investigation of an incident described 70
in subdivision (1) or (2) of subsection (a) of this section, the Inspector 71
General shall file a report with the Chief State's Attorney which shall 72
contain the following: (1) The circumstances of the incident, (2) a 73
determination of whether the use of physical force by the peace officer 74
was justifiable under section 53a -22, and (3) any recommended future 75
action to be taken by the [Office of the Inspector General ] law 76
enforcement agency as a result of the incident. The Chief State's 77
Attorney shall provide a copy of the report to the chief executive officer 78
of the municipality in which the incident occurred and to the 79
Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the chief 80
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of police of such municipality, as the case may be, and shall make such 81
report available to the public on the Division of Criminal Justice's 82
Internet web site not later than forty -eight hours after the copies are 83
provided to the chief executive officer and the commissioner or chief of 84
police. 85
(c) The Office of the Inspector General shall prosecute any case in 86
which the Inspector General determines that (1) the use of force by a 87
peace officer was not justifiable under section 53a-22, or (2) there was a 88
failure to intervene in such incident or to report any such incident, as 89
required under subsection (a) of section 7-282e or section 18-81nn. 90
Sec. 2. Section 51-277e of the 2026 supplement to the general statutes 91
is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 92
passage): 93
(a) There is established the Office of the Inspector General that shall 94
be a separate office within the Division of Criminal Justice. Not later 95
than October 1, 2021, the Criminal Justice Commission established 96
pursuant to section 51-275a shall appoint a deputy chief state's attorney 97
as Inspector General who shall lead the Office of the Inspector General. 98
The office shall: (1) Conduct investigations of peace officers in 99
accordance with section 51 -277a, as amended by this act ; (2) prosecute 100
any case in which the Inspector General determines a peace officer used 101
force found to not be justifiable pursuant to section 53a -22 or where a 102
police officer or correction officer fails to intervene in any such incident 103
or to report any such incident, as required under subsection (a) of 104
section 7 -282e or section 18 -81nn, as applicable; (3) investigate any 105
failure to report the death of a person in accordance with the provisions 106
of section 7 -294mm; (4) investigate any failure to report in accordance 107
with the provisions of subdivision (1) of subsection (h) of section 7-294d; 108
(5) investigate the death of a person within the physical custody of a 109
peace officer or law enforcement agency or the Commissioner of 110
Correction in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (2) of 111
subsection (a) of section 51 -277a, as amended by this act; and [(5)] (6) 112
make recommendations to the Police Officer Standards and Training 113
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Council established under section 7 -294b concerning censure and 114
suspension, renewal, cancelation or revocation of a peace officer's 115
certification, provided in the case of a failure to report a death of a 116
person, any such recommendation may be made to said council only in 117
a case where such failure is found to be intentional or made with 118
reckless indifference, or if there is no finding that such failure was 119
intentional or made with reckless indifference, a recommendation may 120
be made to the officer's employing agency for any further disciplinary 121
action as so determined by such employing agency. 122
(b) The Inspector General shall serve a term of four years from July 123
first in the year of the appointment unless sooner removed by the 124
Criminal Justice Commission. The commission shall not be precluded 125
from reappointing an individual who has previously served as 126
Inspector General. 127
(c) An Inspector General may be removed or otherwise disciplined 128
only in accordance with section 51-278b. 129
(d) The Inspector General may issue subpoenas to municipalities, law 130
enforcement units, as defined in section 7 -294, the Department of 131
Correction and any employee or former employee of the municipality, 132
unit or department (1) requiring the production of reports, records or 133
other documents concerning an investigation described in subsection (a) 134
of this section that is undertaken by the Inspector General, and (2) 135
compelling the attendance and testimony of any person having 136
knowledge pertinent to such investigation at an investigative deposition 137
conducted by the Inspector General, or the Inspector General's designee. 138
(e) A chief of police of a municipality, the Commissioner of 139
Emergency Services and Public Protection or the Commissioner of 140
Correction may refer and the Inspector General shall accept any such 141
referral of an incident described in subsection (a) of this section for 142
purposes of an investigation. 143
(f) The Office of the Inspector General shall be at a location that is 144
separate from the locations of the Office of the Chief State's Attorney or 145
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any of the state's attorneys for the judicial districts. 146
(g) The Inspector General may employ necessary staff to fulfil the 147
duties of the Office of the Inspector General described in subsection (a) 148
of this section. Such staff shall be selected by the Inspector General 149
within the confines of any existing collective bargaining agreement and 150
shall include, but not be limited to, an assistant state's attorney or a 151
deputy assistant state's attorney, an inspector and administrative staff. 152
As needed by and upon request of the Inspector General, the Office of 153
the Chief State's Attorney shall ensure assistance from additional 154
assistant state's attorneys or deputy assistant state's attorneys, 155
inspectors and administrative staff. 156
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 from passage 51-277a
Sec. 2 from passage 51-277e

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(a), "deadly force" was changed to "deadly physical force"
for accuracy.

JUD Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO

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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill, which makes clarifying and conforming changes to the
powers and duties of the Office of the Inspector General, does not result
in a fiscal impact as the changes largely align with current practice.
The Out Years
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None

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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5428

AN ACT CONCERNING THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.

SUMMARY
This bill makes several changes to requirements for the inspector
general to investigate deaths that (1) involve peace officer use of
physical or deadly force or (2) occur in the custody of a peace officer,
law enforcement agency, or the Department of Correction (DOC).
First, the bill limits the custodial death investigations to
circumstances involving the death of someone in physical custody,
rather than any custody (such as the legal custody of an individual on
parole).
Existing law requires the inspector general to file a report with the
chief state’s attorney after investigating a death from a peace officer’s
use of force or that happens in a peace officer’s or law enforcement
agency’s custody. Currently, the report must include (1) the incident’s
circumstances, (2) a determination on the use of force (whether it was
justifiable), and (3) recommended future actions for the Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) . The bill requires the recommendations to be
for the involved law enforcement agency rather than OIG. Relatedly, it
allows the inspector general to issue a report on the death of someone
in DOC physical custody, which may include any recommended actions
for DOC to take.
Lastly, the bill (1) specifies that the inspector general’s authority to
issue subpoenas to compel a person’s attendance and testimony in an
investigation applies to investigative deposition s and (2) makes a
conforming change to the statute that lists OIG’s duties by including
investigating the death of someone in the physical custody of a peace
officer, law enforcement agency, or DOC.
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EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
BACKGROUND
Related Bills
sSB 91, § 1 (File 491) , and sSB 397, § 3 (File 399) , both favorably
reported by the Judiciary Committee, expand the inspector general’s
investigatory authority for deaths involving peace officer use of force or
that occur in an officer’s custody by applying it to deaths following the
use of force by, or in the custody of, any federal law enforcement officer.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 32 Nay 4 (03/24/2026)