“We’re not ready,” said Milford Police Chief Keith Mello, speaking on behalf of the state’s new police transparency and accountability task force. “This represents a change in a longstanding principle by which every Connecticut police officer has been trained, some for many years.”
Mello urged lawmakers to move the effective date from April 1 of this year to October of 2022. That's how long he said it will take to train all 9,000 municipal and state officers in Connecticut in the state's new use of force standards.
“If we can’t get everyone through the training, how can you hold this new law accountable against anybody?" asked Republican State Senator Dan Champagne of Vernon.