Connecticut Electronic Defense Weapon Report

In an effort to increase transparency and better understand taser[1] use, the Connecticut General Assembly passed Public Act 14-149, "An Act Concerning the Use of Electronic Defense Weapons by Police Officers," in 2014. PA 14-149 directed the Police Officer Standards and Training Council ("POSTC") to draft and distribute a model policy for regulating the use of tasers. This law requires that every police department adopt and maintain a taser policy that meets or exceeds the standards set by the POSTC model policy. The new law also requires police officers to document each incident in which a taser was used and for law enforcement agencies authorizing such use to report all incidents to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division, by January 15 of the following year.

The Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP), at Central Connecticut State University, was tasked by the Office of Policy and Management's Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division with compiling and analyzing the reported taser data.

For more information contact:

Ken Barone
Project Manager
Institute for Municipal & Regional Policy, University of Connecticut