Tag: police

House passes ‘Valentine’s Law,’ increasing penalties for fleeing, resisting, or interfering with arrest

      The Missouri House this week voted to increase the criminal penalties for resisting or interfering with an arrest, or fleeing from law enforcement.  The bill is named in honor of a St. Louis County Police Detective who was killed by a fleeing suspect, in 2021.

Detective Antonio Valentine

      “On December 21, 2021, Detective Valentine, my colleague and my friend, gave his life when he was killed by a fleeing felon who was purposely driving in oncoming traffic, fleeing from police.”

      That was the opening statement from Representative Justin Sparks (R-Wildwood), the sponsor of House Bill 1692.  Sparks was with the St. Louis County Police Department for nearly 15 years.  He knew Detective Tony Valentine personally, and was on the scene when he died. 

      “That felon, who had been arrested multiple times for violent felonies, took off and decided to drive his vehicle as fast as it would go, into oncoming traffic.  Well, in that oncoming traffic was Detective Valentine, and I believe that he saw what that fleeing felon was doing, and he willingly gave his life to stop that vehicle, that 2,000 or 3,000 weapon, from hitting the school bus that was behind him down the road.”

      Sparks was certainly not the only House member to speak in favor of the legislation with passion borne of personal experience.  Representative Lane Roberts (R-Joplin), whose career in law enforcement spans decades, including as Joplin Police Chief and the state’s Director of Public Safety, said he knows what it’s like to lose friends and to lose those under his command. 

      “When you look at their faces and you see the pain and you hear the anguish, and then you’re given an opportunity like this to actually do something about it, it would be irresponsible to the point of dereliction for us to fail to do something about it,” Roberts said. 

Representative Justin Sparks spoke at a media conference on 02/14/2024 backed by St. Louis area law enforcement, in support of Valentine’s Law. (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      “The idea that you can run down the road at 100 miles an hour in 4,000 pieces of metal and call it a misdemeanor is like saying that pointing a gun at somebody is a misdemeanor.  It’s a dangerous weapon and you’re putting people at risk, and there’s absolutely no excuse for it.  It is conduct that should be a felony.”

      In a display of the bill’s bipartisan support, Representative Robert Sauls (D-Kansas City), agreed.  His career includes time as both a Jackson County prosecutor, and as a public defender. 

      “There are a couple of offenses that I think, maybe, the penalty might be too harsh, and there are some where I think it is too light, and this is one that I think is, in particular, too light, because of what the ultimate harm may potentially be,” Sauls said.  “This offense has the potential to kill and harm people and I just think … it’s one of the few that I think is too soft.”

      “This applies to the violent felons who know exactly what they’re doing and who accelerate at extreme speeds into oncoming traffic, putting everybody at risk,” Sparks explained. 

      “This bill will make fleeing from police a felony, but only when doing so puts the public at risk of serious physical injury or death.  This will not apply to folks that are looking for a place to pull over, this will not apply to folks that are confused, this will not apply to folks that are a little unsure if it’s a legitimate police officer behind them.  They can continue at the speed limit until they find a well-lit place to pull over for the traffic stop.”

Representative Robert Sauls (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      A person would violate Valentine’s Law if they reasonably know law enforcement is trying to stop them and they flee at a speed 10 miles per hour or more greater than the posted speed limit, and if, in doing so, they pose a risk of physical harm or death to any person. 

      The offense would be a class D felony with a one-year minimum prison sentence.  It would increase to a class B felony if, by fleeing, they cause serious physical injury to another person.  It would become a class A felony if by fleeing they cause another person’s death.

      The bill also adjusts the circumstances for when resisting or interfering with arrest is a class A misdemeanor and when it is a class E felony.  If such an act is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or involves taking someone hostage, it would be a class A felony.

      The House voted 107-25 on Wednesday to send HBs 1692 & 1748 to the Senate, where versions of Valentine’s Law have been advanced out of a committee and a bill that includes it has been passed and sent to the House.

Anti-doxing bill would protect Missouri first responders

      Missouri House members are being asked to protect law enforcement officers and other first responders and their families by protecting the personal information of those individuals.

      House Bill 59 has been called the “First Responders Protection Act.”  It would bar counties from disclosing the address or personal information of law enforcement officers and first responders, upon their request.  This would be directed at county clerks, collectors, treasurers, auditors, and recorders of deeds. 

Representative Adam Schnelting (photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications, 03-10-2020)

It would also make illegal the “doxing” of those individuals; that is, the posting of such information on the internet with the intent of causing harm to them.

The bill’s sponsor, St. Charles Republican Adam Schnelting, said such information has been used to target law enforcement officers and their loved ones.

      “Our first responders and our law enforcement officers leave their families every day to protect our own, so I think the least that we can do is to back them up, protect them so that there’s one less avenue through which their families can become a victim,” said Schnelting. 

      Dale Roberts with the Columbia Police Officers Association said Columbia officers have been targeted by those they’ve arrested.

      “They track our officers down.  They called our officers after being arrested and said, ‘I know your daughter, Amanda, goes to Grand Elementary School.  I know you live at 309 Pine Street,’ and threaten the officers and their families,” Roberts told the House Committee on Public Safety.

“We go to work every day and we understand the responsibilities, the duties, and the dangers of our job,” said Missouri Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police president Rick Inglima.  “A bill like this would be paramount in helping our officers protect themselves, to keep their information undisclosed – either online or by going through the county records, to keep our officers and their families safe.”

Backers said the legislation could save local law enforcement agencies money that is expended to protect officers who have been targeted due to access to their personal information.

The Recorders Association of Missouri testified against the bill.  Speaking for the Association, Jessica Petrie stressed that it supports the intent of the legislation but implementing it wouldn’t be practical.

“Under Missouri statute recorders do not redact records.  We don’t have the processes, we don’t have the software, we don’t have the systems in place to redact,” said Petrie. 

      She said the bill’s prohibition on the release of any data related to an officer’s address could interfere with the sale of property.

      “If you redact parcel numbers or legal descriptions you might interfere with title searches, which is a big function of our office, and if people can’t prove that they’re the only ones with claims to a title that makes the chain of property ownership very messy.”    

      Petrie said with the range of capabilities and technologies across Missouri’s 114 counties and the city of St. Louis it is hard to predict what it would take – especially in terms of cost – for all of them to get software or other items necessary to comply with the requirements of HB 59.

      The Missouri NAACP also opposes the legislation, saying it would create crimes and penalties redundant to current Missouri law.  Sharon Jones with the Association joined the Recorders Association in suggesting that many of the bill’s goals could be met by extending to law enforcement officers the Safe At Home Program, which allows survivors of domestic violence and other crimes hide their address. 

The bill’s supporters note that Safe At Home’s protections are not retroactive, so records already available through county offices would stay that way.

      The committee has not voted on HB 59.