Florida Senate - 2021                                     SB 438
       
       
        
       By Senator Bracy
       
       
       
       
       
       11-00039-21                                            2021438__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to investigations of officer-involved
    3         deaths; creating s. 943.6872, F.S.; defining terms;
    4         requiring that each law enforcement agency have a
    5         written policy regarding the investigation of officer
    6         involved deaths; providing requirements for such
    7         policies; authorizing internal investigations under
    8         certain circumstances; authorizing compensation for
    9         certain investigations to be determined in a manner
   10         consistent with mutual aid agreements; requiring
   11         certain investigators to provide a complete report to
   12         the appropriate state attorney; requiring such
   13         investigators to publicly release the completed
   14         report, redacted as required by law, if the state
   15         attorney determines that there is no basis to
   16         prosecute the law enforcement officer involved;
   17         providing an effective date.
   18          
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Section 943.6872, Florida Statutes, is created
   22  to read:
   23         943.6872 Investigations of officer-involved deaths.—
   24         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   25         (a) “Law enforcement agency” means an agency that has as
   26  its primary mission the prevention and detection of crime and
   27  the enforcement of the penal, criminal, traffic, and motor
   28  vehicle laws of this state and, in furtherance of that primary
   29  mission, employs law enforcement officers.
   30         (b) “Law enforcement officer” has the same meaning as in s.
   31  943.10.
   32         (c) “Officer-involved death” means the death of an
   33  individual which results directly from an action or an omission
   34  by a law enforcement officer while the law enforcement officer
   35  is on duty or while he or she is off duty but performing
   36  activities that are within the scope of his or her law
   37  enforcement duties.
   38         (2) Each law enforcement agency in this state shall have a
   39  written policy regarding the investigation of officer-involved
   40  deaths that involve a law enforcement officer employed by that
   41  law enforcement agency. Each policy adopted under this
   42  subsection:
   43         (a) Must require that any such investigation be conducted
   44  by at least two investigators, one of whom must be designated
   45  the lead investigator. An investigator may not be employed by
   46  the law enforcement agency that employs a law enforcement
   47  officer involved in the officer-involved death.
   48         (b) Must require that, if the officer-involved death being
   49  investigated is traffic-related, the investigators use a crash
   50  reconstruction unit from a law enforcement agency that does not
   51  employ a law enforcement officer involved in the officer
   52  involved death; however, the policy may provide that, if the law
   53  enforcement agency is a state law enforcement agency, the state
   54  law enforcement agency may use a crash reconstruction unit from
   55  the same state law enforcement agency.
   56         (c) May allow an internal investigation of the officer
   57  involved death if the internal investigation does not interfere
   58  with the investigation conducted under paragraph (a).
   59         (3) Compensation for investigations conducted under
   60  paragraph (2)(a) or paragraph (2)(b) may be determined in a
   61  manner consistent with mutual aid agreements.
   62         (4)(a) The investigators who conduct an investigation under
   63  paragraph (2)(a) or paragraph (2)(b) shall provide, in an
   64  expeditious manner, a complete report to the state attorney of
   65  the judicial circuit in which the officer-involved death
   66  occurred.
   67         (b) If the state attorney determines that there is no basis
   68  for prosecuting the law enforcement officer involved in the
   69  officer-involved death, the investigators who provided the
   70  report to the state attorney must publicly release the completed
   71  report, after redacting any information as required by law.
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.