PA 13-80—SB 898

Public Safety and Security Committee

Human Services Committee

AN ACT CONCERNING CHANGES TO CERTAIN STATUTES AFFECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES AND PUBLIC PROTECTION

SUMMARY: This act:

1. shortens the deadline by which the Department of Children and Families (DCF) must ask the State Police to conduct fingerprint-based state and national criminal history record checks on anyone living in a home in which DCF places a child on an emergency basis;

2. establishes a two-year deadline by which a person must apply for a security guard license after completing the required eight-hour licensure training; and

3. starting January 1, 2014, requires local police departments to submit certain fingerprints electronically to the State Police Bureau of Identification (SPBI) if they have the technology to take fingerprints electronically.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2013, except that the requirement to submit fingerprints electronically is effective July 1, 2013.

EMERGENCY PLACEMENTS

By law, DCF may ask a criminal justice agency to perform an instant federal name-based criminal history record check on residents of any home in which it places a child as a result of the sudden unavailability of the child's primary caretaker. This includes residents of private homes of the child's neighbors, friends, or relatives.

Under prior law, within 15 calendar days after the date the name-based search was performed, DCF had to ask the SPBI to perform fingerprint-based state and national criminal history record checks on the residents. The act shortens the deadline to five calendar days.

SECURITY GUARD LICENSE

By law, people seeking a security guard license must complete at least eight hours of training approved by the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in basic first aid, search and seizure laws and regulations, use of force, and basic criminal justice and public safety issues. The act allows someone to submit a license application only within two years of successfully completing this training.

FINGERPRINTING

Starting January 1, 2014, the act requires local police departments to submit fingerprints of arrested persons electronically to the SPBI if they can take fingerprints electronically. The act applies to fingerprints of people (1) age 16 or older arrested for crimes involving moral turpitude or (2) requesting a criminal history records check required by any provision of the statutes.

OLR Tracking: VR: CR: TA: RO