- (CNSNews.com) - The Senate Judiciary Committee is now
considering legislation that would let off-duty and retired law enforcement
officers carry weapons when they leave their local jurisdictions, even
when they cross state lines.
-
- But some police organizations are slow to embrace the
bill, claiming it could do more harm than good. Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) -- who introduced the Senate bill because
he believes arming cops would make communities safer -- has gained the
support of 30 other Senate co-sponsors, including Committee ranking Republican
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
-
- The Senate bill resembles a House bill introduced by
Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), which has 267 co-sponsors thus far.
-
- "I know that law enforcement officers are never
'off-duty,'" Leahy said at a committee hearing Tuesday. "When
there is a threat to the peace or to our public safety, law enforcement
officers are sworn to answer that call."
-
- According to the legislation, not every off-duty and
retired officer could qualify to carry a gun. Instead, they must be authorized
to do so by the law enforcement agency where they worked, as well as be
in good standing with that agency and certified to qualify to carry a firearm
by that agency.
-
- Steve Young, president of the Fraternal Order of Police,
said the bill is needed because if "neither criminals nor terrorists
give up their weapons when they cross jurisdictional boundaries, why should
police officers?"
-
- Young added that the personal safety of officers off-duty
is also at stake.
-
- "A police officer cannot remember the name and face
of every criminal he or she has locked behind bars, but criminals often
have long and exacting memories," he said. "Police officers are
frequently finding that they, and their families, are targets in uniform
and out, off-duty and on, active and retired."
-
- However, Lonnie Westphal, vice president of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police and chief of the Colorado State Patrol,
told the committee that such legislation could end up hurting officers
instead of protecting them.
-
- "This legislation is especially troubling,"
said Westphal, an IACP vice president and chief of the Colorado State Patrol.
"It could in fact threaten the safety of police officers by creating
tragic situations where officers from other jurisdictions are wounded or
killed by local officers." Westphal said arming off-duty and retired
cops would not improve the safety of communities.
-
- "It is important to remember that a police officer's
authority to enforce the law is limited to the jurisdiction in which they
serve," Westphal said in committee testimony. "An officer, upon
leaving his jurisdiction, has no arrest powers or other authority to enforce
the law. That is the responsibility of local law enforcement agencies."
-
- IACP is also concerned about the liabilities involved
if an off-duty officer uses his weapon in another jurisdiction.
-
- "If an off-duty officer who uses or misuses their
weapon while in another state, it is likely that their department will
be forced to defend itself against liability charges in another state.
The resources that mounting this defense would require could be better
spent serving the communities we represent," Westphal concluded.
-
- The Senate Judiciary Committee is continuing to craft
the bill and hopes to have it finalized and out of committee sometime next
week. It is not known when it will see Senate floor action. President Bush
favors the legislation, according to Leahy.
-
- http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\ar
|
