May 8, 2012 Response from Major Sarah Bruso of DESPP
Before you read the May 8th letter with the referenced sections of Connecticut State Law, ask yourself these 4 quesitons:
1. Who requests the Connecticut Crminal History Records check as part of the application process for a 60 Day Temporary State Permit to Carry Pistols or Revolvers?
If you don't know the answer, ask your local issuing authority!!
2. Is receipt of a Connecticut Crminal History Records check mandated prior to a 60 Day Temporary State Permit to Carry Pistols or Revolversa being issued to an applicant for same?
3. In her letter dated May 8, 2012, why does Major Sarah Bruso mention and suggest that local issuing authorities seek a legal opinion?
4. Why didn't Major Sarah Bruso seek and include an offical legal opinion from the Attorney General?
May 8, 2012
Dear First Selectman/Police Chief:
It has come to our attention that correspondence entitled Notice and Demand to Cease and Desist has been mailed to various pistol permit local authorities by Attorney Rachel Baird. Among other things, this correspondence appears to indicate that the fee for criminal history reports is not required to be paid by pistol permit applicants.
It is the position of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) that all pistol permit related criminal history record requests must be accompanied by the $50.00 fee pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. 29-11(c) (fee for criminal history record information search is $50,00) and 29-29(b) (as part of the pistol permit process, municipalities shall lake fingerprints orconduct some other method of positive identification of applicants and "forward such fingerprints or other positive indentifying Information to the State Police Bureau of Identification which shall conduct criminal history records checks…”. These pistol permits are issued to individual, private citizens for their exclusive use and benefit, and accordingly, the $50.00 fee must be included as part of the application process. Any pistol permit related criminal history report requests, which are not accompanied by the mandatory $50.00 fee,will be returned to youby DESPP unprocessed.
Attorney Baird's correspondence also appears to include specific statements that are directed to the various pistol permit local authorities. To the extent these statements raise legal questions; your municipal/town legal counsel should be consulted.
Sincerely,
Major Sarah Bruso
Commanding Officer
Bureau of Training and Support Services
1111 Country Club Road
Middletown, CT 06457-2389
Comment: Fingerprint identification is NOT required, and it is the local issuing authority that requests the Connecticut Criminal History Records Check.
Sec. 29-11. State Police Bureau of Identification. Fees. Regulations. (a) The bureau in the Division of State Police within the Department of Public Safety known as the State Police Bureau of Identification shall be maintained for the purposes (1) of providing an authentic record of each person sixteen years of age or over who is charged with the commission of any crime involving moral turpitude, (2) of providing definite information relative to the identity of each person so arrested, (3) of providing a record of the final judgment of the court resulting from such arrest, unless such record has been erased pursuant to section 54-142a, and (4) for maintaining a central repository of complete criminal history record disposition information. The Commissioner of Public Safety is directed to maintain the State Police Bureau of Identification, which bureau shall receive, classify and file in an orderly manner all fingerprints, pictures and descriptions, including previous criminal records as far as known of all persons so arrested, and shall classify and file in a like manner all identification material and records received from the government of the United States and from the various state governments and subdivisions thereof, and shall cooperate with such governmental units in the exchange of information relative to criminals. The State Police Bureau of Identification shall accept fingerprints of applicants for admission to the bar of the state and, to the extent permitted by federal law, shall exchange state, multistate and federal criminal history records with the State Bar Examining Committee for purposes of investigation of the qualifications of any applicant for admission as an attorney under section 51-80. The record of all arrests reported to the bureau after March 16, 1976, shall contain information of any disposition within ninety days after the disposition has occurred.
(b) Any cost incurred by the State Police Bureau of Identification in conducting any name search and fingerprinting of applicants for admission to the bar of the state shall be paid from fees collected by the State Bar Examining Committee.
(c) The Commissioner of Public Safety shall charge the following fees for the service indicated: (1) Name search, thirty-six dollars; (2) fingerprint search, fifty dollars; (3) personal record search, fifty dollars; (4) letters of good conduct search, fifty dollars; (5) bar association search, fifty dollars; (6) fingerprinting, fifteen dollars; (7) criminal history record information search, fifty dollars. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any federal, state or municipal agency.
(d) The Commissioner of Public Safety may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, necessary to implement the provisions of the National Child Protection Act of 1993, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Volunteers for Children Act of 1998, and the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact as provided in section 29-164f to provide for national criminal history records checks to determine an employee's or volunteer's suitability and fitness to care for the safety and well-being of children, the elderly and individuals with disabilities.
Sec. 29-29. Information concerning criminal records of applicants for permits. (a) No temporary state permit for carrying any pistol or revolver shall be issued under the provisions of section 29-28 unless the applicant for such permit gives to the local authority, upon its request, full information concerning the applicant's criminal record. The local authority shall require the applicant to submit to state and national criminal history records checks. The local authority shall take a full description of such applicant and make an investigation concerning the applicant's suitability to carry any such weapons.
(b) The local authority shall take the fingerprints of such applicant or conduct any other method of positive identification required by the State Police Bureau of Identification or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, unless the local authority determines that the fingerprints of such applicant have been previously taken and the applicant's identity established, and such applicant presents identification that the local authority verifies as valid. The local authority shall record the date the fingerprints were taken in the applicant's file and, within five business days of such date, shall forward such fingerprints or other positive identifying information to the State Police Bureau of Identification which shall conduct criminal history records checks in accordance with section 29-17a.
(c) The local authority may, in its discretion, issue a temporary state permit before a national criminal history records check relative to such applicant's record has been received. Upon receipt of the results of such national criminal history records check, the commissioner shall send a copy of the results of such national criminal history records check to the local authority, which shall inform the applicant and render a decision on the application within one week of the receipt of such results. If such results have not been received within eight weeks after a sufficient application for a permit has been made, the local authority shall inform the applicant of such delay, in writing. No temporary state permit shall be issued if the local authority has reason to believe the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony, or that any other condition exists for which the issuance of a permit for possession of a pistol or revolver is prohibited under state or federal law.
(d) The commissioner may investigate any applicant for a state permit and shall investigate each applicant for renewal of a state permit to ensure that such applicant is eligible under state law for such permit or for renewal of such permit.
