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CS/SB 156 — Criminal Offenses Against Law Enforcement Officers and Other Personnel
by Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice and Senator Leek
This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office.
Prepared by: Criminal Justice Committee (CJ)
The bill expands law enforcement officers’ protection from citizens’ use or threatened use of force during an arrest or detention. The bill prohibits a person from using or threatening to use force to resist any arrest or detention, or to resist an officer engaged in the performance of his or her official duties, if the officer was acting in good faith and is known, or reasonably appears, to be a law enforcement officer.
“Acting in good faith” means to make sincere and reasonable efforts to comply with legal requirements, even if the arrest, detention, or other act is later found to have been unlawful.
The bill removes language which specifies a law enforcement officer is not justified in using force if an arrest or execution of a legal duty is unlawful and known by the officer to be unlawful.
The bill adds manslaughter to the list of crimes that a person must be sentenced to life imprisonment without the eligibility of release upon conviction, if such offense was committed against specified officers who were engaged in the performance of their official duties.
The bill amends provisions relating to assault or battery on an officer and resisting a law enforcement officer with violence, to specify that such officer must be engaged in the performance of his or her official duties when the offense is committed. The bill also ranks the 3rd degree felony of battery on a law enforcement officer, firefighter, and other specified personnel, as a level 5 in the Offense Severity Ranking Chart.
If approved by the Governor, or allowed to become law without the Governor's signature, these provisions take effect upon becoming law.
Vote: Senate 31-4; House 103-8