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2024 Florida Statutes

Title XLIII DOMESTIC RELATIONS
Chapter 741 MARRIAGE; DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Entire Chapter
SECTION 29
Domestic violence; investigation of incidents; notice to victims of legal rights and remedies; reporting.
F.S. 741.29
741.29 Domestic violence; investigation of incidents; notice to victims of legal rights and remedies; reporting.—
(1) Any law enforcement officer who investigates an alleged incident of domestic violence shall:
(a) Assist the victim to obtain medical treatment if such is required as a result of the alleged incident to which the officer responds;
(b) Advise the victim of such violence that there is a domestic violence center from which the victim may receive services;
(c) Administer a lethality assessment consistent with the requirements established in subsection (2) if the allegation of domestic violence is against an intimate partner, regardless of whether an arrest is made; and
(d) Give the victim immediate notice of the legal rights and remedies available on a standard form developed and distributed by the department. As necessary, the department shall revise the Legal Rights and Remedies Notice to Victims to include a general summary of s. 741.30 using simple English as well as Spanish, and shall distribute the notice as a model form to be used by all law enforcement agencies throughout this state. The notice must include:
1. The resource listing, including telephone number, for the area domestic violence center designated by the Department of Children and Families; and
2. A copy of the following statement:

IF YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, you may ask the state attorney to file a criminal complaint. You also have the right to go to court and file a petition requesting an injunction for protection from domestic violence which may include, but need not be limited to, provisions which restrain the abuser from further acts of abuse; direct the abuser to leave your household; prevent the abuser from entering your residence, school, business, or place of employment; award you custody of your minor child or children; and direct the abuser to pay support to you and the minor children if the abuser has a legal obligation to do so.

(2) The department shall consult with the Department of Children and Families, the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, the Florida Partnership to End Domestic Violence, and at least two domestic violence advocacy organizations to develop the policies, procedures, and training necessary for implementation of a statewide evidence-based lethality assessment. Such policies, procedures, and training must establish how to determine whether a victim and aggressor are intimate partners and establish a statewide process for referring a victim to a certified domestic violence center. The group must review the questions in paragraph (e) and make a recommendation as to whether all questions should be included in the statewide lethality assessment instrument and form. By January 1, 2025, the department must adopt a statewide lethality assessment instrument and form. If a question in paragraph (e) is eliminated from the assessment, the department must confirm that the remaining or altered questions constitute an evidence-based lethality assessment. By January 31, 2025, the department shall report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives the results and recommendations of the group, including any proposed statutory changes that are necessary for implementation of a statewide lethality assessment. Training on how to administer a lethality assessment and the approved lethality assessment form must be accessible to a law enforcement officer in an online format.
(a) The department must monitor evidence-based standards relating to the lethality assessment and the lethality assessment instrument and form. If the department identifies changes in such evidence-based standards, the department must submit a report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives which must include any proposed changes to the statewide lethality assessment in order to maintain compliance with evidence-based standards. In the report, the department must include the availability of any additional evidence-based assessments that have been reviewed and approved by the Office on Violence Against Women of the United States Department of Justice Office.
(b) The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission shall require by rule that all law enforcement officers receive instruction on the policies and procedures for administering a lethality assessment as part of basic recruit training or as part of the required instruction for continued employment. A law enforcement officer may not administer a lethality assessment to a victim if the officer has not received training on administering a lethality assessment. All of the following requirements for training on administering a lethality assessment must be met by October 1, 2026:
1. Commission-approved basic recruit training programs required by s. 943.13(9) and continuing training or education required by s. 943.135 must incorporate the training required by this subsection.
2. Each law enforcement agency shall ensure that all of its sworn personnel have completed the training required by this subsection, including law enforcement officers who received an exemption from completing the commission-approved basic recruit training program under s. 943.131, as part of their basic recruit training or the continued training or education required under s. 943.135(1), as applicable.
(c) By November 1, 2026, the head of each law enforcement agency shall provide written certification to the department verifying that the law enforcement agency has complied with the training requirements in this subsection.
(d) By January 1, 2027, the department shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report identifying each law enforcement agency that has not complied with the requirements of this subsection.
(e) Subject to any revisions made by the department to the lethality assessment under this subsection, to administer a lethality assessment, a law enforcement officer shall ask the victim, in the same or similar wording and in the same order, all of the following questions:
1. Did the aggressor ever use a weapon against you or threaten you with a weapon?
2. Did the aggressor ever threaten to kill you or your children?
3. Do you believe the aggressor will try to kill you?
4. Has the aggressor ever choked you or attempted to choke you?
5. Does the aggressor have a gun or could the aggressor easily obtain a gun?
6. Is the aggressor violently or constantly jealous, or does the aggressor control most of your daily activities?
7. Did you leave or separate from the aggressor after you were living together or married?
8. Is the aggressor unemployed?
9. To the best of your knowledge, has the aggressor ever attempted suicide?
10. Do you have a child whom the aggressor believes is not the aggressor’s biological child?
11. Has the aggressor ever followed, spied on, or left threatening messages for you?
12. Is there anything else that worries you about your safety and, if so, what worries you?
(f) A law enforcement officer shall advise a victim of the results of the assessment and refer the victim to the nearest locally certified domestic violence center if:
1. The victim answers affirmatively to any of the questions provided in subparagraphs (e)1.-4.;
2. The victim answers negatively to the questions provided in subparagraphs (e)1.-4., but affirmatively to at least four of the questions provided in subparagraphs (e)5.-11.; or
3. As a result of the victim’s response to subparagraph (e)12., the law enforcement officer believes the victim is in a potentially lethal situation.
(g) If a victim does not, or is unable to, provide information to a law enforcement officer sufficient to allow the law enforcement officer to administer a lethality assessment, the law enforcement officer must document the lack of a lethality assessment in the written police report required in subsection (3) and refer the victim to the nearest locally certified domestic violence center.
(h) A law enforcement officer may not include in a probable cause statement, written police report, or incident report the domestic violence center to which a victim was referred.
(3) When a law enforcement officer investigates an allegation that an incident of domestic violence has occurred, the officer shall handle the incident pursuant to the arrest policy provided in s. 901.15(7), and as developed in accordance with subsections (4)-(6). Regardless of whether an arrest is made, the officer shall make a written police report that is complete and clearly indicates the alleged offense was an incident of domestic violence. Such report must be given to the officer’s supervisor and filed with the law enforcement agency in a manner that will permit data on domestic violence cases to be compiled. Such report must include all of the following:
(a) A description of physical injuries observed, if any.
(b) If a law enforcement officer decides not to make an arrest or decides to arrest two or more parties, the grounds for not arresting anyone or for arresting two or more parties.
(c) A statement which indicates that a copy of the legal rights and remedies notice was given to the victim.
(d) A notation of the score of a lethality assessment, if one was administered pursuant to paragraph (1)(c).

Whenever possible, the law enforcement officer shall obtain a written statement from the victim and witnesses concerning the alleged domestic violence. The officer shall submit the report to the supervisor or other person to whom the employer’s rules or policies require reports of similar allegations of criminal activity to be made. The law enforcement agency shall, without charge, send a copy of the initial police report, as well as any subsequent, supplemental, or related report, which excludes victim/witness statements or other materials that are part of an active criminal investigation and are exempt from disclosure under chapter 119, to the nearest locally certified domestic violence center within 24 hours after the agency’s receipt of the report. The report furnished to the domestic violence center must include a narrative description of the domestic violence incident.

(4) Whenever a law enforcement officer determines upon probable cause that an act of domestic violence has been committed within the jurisdiction the officer may arrest the person or persons suspected of its commission and charge such person or persons with the appropriate crime. The decision to arrest and charge shall not require consent of the victim or consideration of the relationship of the parties.
(5)(a) When complaints are received from two or more parties, the officers shall evaluate each complaint separately to determine whether there is probable cause for arrest.
(b) If a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that two or more persons have committed a misdemeanor or felony, or if two or more persons make complaints to the officer, the officer must try to determine who was the primary aggressor. Arrest is the preferred response only with respect to the primary aggressor and not the preferred response with respect to a person who acts in a reasonable manner to protect or defend oneself or another family or household member from domestic violence.
(6) A law enforcement officer may not be held liable, in any civil action, for an arrest based on probable cause, enforcement in good faith of a court order, or service of process in good faith under this chapter arising from an alleged incident of domestic violence brought by any party to the incident.
(7) A person who willfully violates a condition of pretrial release provided in s. 903.047, when the original arrest was for an act of domestic violence as defined in s. 741.28, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, and shall be held in custody until his or her first appearance.
History.—s. 12, ch. 84-343; s. 3, ch. 91-210; s. 5, ch. 94-90; s. 2, ch. 94-134; s. 2, ch. 94-135; s. 2, ch. 95-195; s. 1, ch. 97-298; s. 279, ch. 99-8; s. 7, ch. 2000-155; s. 286, ch. 2014-19; s. 2, ch. 2015-17; s. 59, ch. 2024-70.