Police Commissions

A police commission is authorized by state law to manage and supervise a town's police department.


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      Police Commissions

    Who oversees the police? For Connecticut towns, one option is a police commission. A police commission is authorized by state law to manage and supervise a town’s police department, including its equipment and property. Not all towns have decided to use their option to create them. For those that have, the commission can exercise broad power over the town’s police department, including (1) the hiring, promotion, and firing of police employees; (2) the ability to gather information by subpoenaing witnesses and sanctioning them if they refuse to testify; and (3) drafting police department regulations and policies, and determining the penalties for violating them.

    Note that even though police commissions have broad statutory powers to start with, towns many times give away those powers through their collective bargaining agreement with police employees, or by adopting charter or ordinance provisions stripping the commission of certain authority.

    Because police commissions can have substantial oversight authority, who is on them matters. However, many commissioners are appointed by a public official rather than elected. Many are themselves former police officers. And many serve for years, or even decades.

    Want to know who is responsible for supervising the police in your town? This page has information about which towns have police commissions; who sits on them (and for how long); and how they were chosen. For police accountability advocates, this information is meant to be a roadmap for reform.

    Contracts

    These agreements govern a range of topics, from wages and hours to healthcare and disciplinary procedures.

    Police Commissions

    A police commission is authorized by state law to manage and supervise a town’s police department.

    Use of Force

    Connecticut law requires all police departments to keep track of any incident where an employee uses "physical force that is likely to cause serious physical injury."

    Suits and Settlements

    Lawsuits against police employees are one way to exercise control over the way police treat people.