Citing a spike in crime, Republican leaders in the State Assembly want Gov. Ned Lamont to suspend the state's brand new Police Accountability bill through February.
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano and State Rep. Vincent Candelora signed a letter, asking the governor to use his emergency executive order powers to suspend the new law, which passed the Senate by a 21-16 vote in July.
The two lawmakers say crime has risen in Hartford and other cities as a result of police pulling back on their duties, fearing repercussions laid out in the new police measure. The Hartford Police Union has made a similar claim, which has been rejected by Mayor Luke Bronin and Police Chief Jason Thody.
But State Sen. Gary Winfield (D/New Haven), who as chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee helped craft the Police Accountability bill, also says that's not the case. Winfield, Mayor Bronin and others attribute the rise in crime to various negative effects of the ongoing pandemic.
.The bill passed in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked Black Lives Matter protests in Connecticut. Activists say the state has a long history of police disproportionately arresting, or even shooting, African American and Latin American residents.
