Connecticut subcommittee moves to require lethality screening, to formalize warrant and firearms compliance steps

A Judiciary subcommittee meeting in Enfield advanced changes to the state model policy for law-enforcement response to domestic violence that would make lethality assessment screening mandatory and formalize procedures for expediting arrest warrants and investigating failures to surrender firearms after protective orders.

The changes approved by the subcommittee would replace voluntary language in the model policy with a requirement that “officers investigating domestic violence cases shall conduct lethality assessment” when listed risk factors are present, and that officers follow corresponding protocols based on screening results, Karen Foley O’Connor, CEO of the Network Against Domestic Abuse, said during the meeting.

The revisions, which the group packaged for full-council consideration, are intended to convert longstanding practice into a post-mandated minimum standard so that all Connecticut law-enforcement agencies follow the same procedures, Chief Alaric Fox of the Enfield Police Department said. “This not only codifies this as more than a best practice, it moves it into the mandate,” Fox said.

Why it matters: The lethality assessment protocol (LAP) is used by officers to identify victims at greatest risk of homicide or severe injury and to direct victims to safety planning and services. Subcommittee members said the tool has been widely used across Connecticut and the change aims to prevent lapses where some agencies or individual officers might stop using the protocol if it remained voluntary.

Key provisions and discussion

Lethali…