Relates to the appointment and reporting duties of the superintendent of the state police and to the appointment of employees of the state police

Further, the responsibilities of the Superintendent are expanded to include the submission of annual reports to the Legislature detailing the inter- and intra-governmental activities of the State Police in the most recent fiscal year. These reports would be public documents and should include:

* Information detailing any special requests from the Executive and the Legislature for services of the State Police beyond traditional services provided by the State Police;

* Any additional information provided by the State police to the Gover- nor, his or her staff and the Legislature beyond the traditional report- ing requirements of the State Police and for what purposes, which would be provided at the discretion of the Superintendent;

* Any special disciplinary actions taken by the Superintendent regarding inter or intra governmental affairs involving State Police personnel, based upon special requests made to the State Police by the Executive, the Legislature and the any other public or quasi-public entity;

* Requests for information of any kind other than the traditional infor- mation provided by the State Police from any Executive branch, Legisla- tive branch, public authority or local government entities;

* The report shall include a certification signed by both the Super- intendent and the Administrator of the State Police Executive Service Unit attesting that the information provided is true to the best of his or her knowledge. If such certification is found to be false, untrue or fraudulent, the Superintendent may be subject to sanctions and penalties deemed appropriate by the Legislature.

The Superintendent would be required to testify before the Legislature at public hearings on a biennial. basis to review the personnel and administrative activities of the State Police along with future plans and initiatives of the agency.

The bill would also require a two year rotation of every civilian and sworn officer assigned to the State Police Executive Service Unit.

Justification

A string of recent scandals involving the Superintendent of the State Police and elected state officials has exposed how this law enforcement agency is prone to dangerous levels of political influence. Such meddling between politics and policing, whether perceived or actu- al, undermines public confidence. Therefore it is imperative steps are taken to shield the State Police from political influences and to ensure it is not swayed by them.

To achieve these goals, this legislation would make the appointment of the Superintendent of the State Police similar to that of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, as outlined in the U.S. Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. Under this legislation, the Super- intendent would no longer serve at-the will of the Governor and instead be tenured to a single ten-year term; thus limiting lawmakers' ability to intimidate the Superintendent into engaging in activities that violate the rules of conduct for the State Police.

To ensure the State Police has not acted in response to or for the sake of political motives, the Superintendent should be required to brief the Legislature on the inter- and intra- governmental activities of the agency in annual reports and at biennial public hearings.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal impacts

There may be some minor administrative costs associated with the development of the annual reports the Superintendent must submit to the Legislature.

Effective date

January 1, 2011.