Grants immunity from liability and professional retaliation against a law enforcement employee who intervenes against police misconduct committed by another member of law enforcement.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1987--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 18, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, RAMOS, RIVERA, SEPULVEDA --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to law enforcement inter-
vention against police misconduct
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-x
2 to read as follows:
3 § 837-x. Law enforcement intervention against police misconduct. 1.
4 Definitions. When used in this section, and unless the specific context
5 indicates otherwise, the following terms shall have the following mean-
6 ings:
7 (a) "Police misconduct" means conduct by a law enforcement officer in
8 the course of an arrest or otherwise in the official capacity of such
9 law enforcement officer that is:
10 (i) excessive, forceful, or violent and that is not justified under
11 section 35.30 of the penal law;
12 (ii) a false arrest;
13 (iii) sexual misconduct; or
14 (iv) witness tampering.
15 (b) A "law enforcement employee" means:
16 (i) any employee of the state police department, as defined in section
17 two hundred twenty-three of this chapter;
18 (ii) any employee of a county sheriff's department; or
19 (iii) any employee of a city, town, village, university, park, or
20 public authority's police department.
21 2. Immunity from liability and professional retaliation against a law
22 enforcement employee who intervenes against police misconduct.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03482-03-3
S. 1987--A 2
1 (a) Any law enforcement employee who in good faith intervenes against
2 police misconduct in compliance with this article shall have immunity
3 from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise result by
4 reason of such actions.
5 (b) A law enforcement agency shall not take any retaliatory personnel
6 action, as such term is defined in paragraph (e) of subdivision one of
7 section seven hundred forty of the labor law, against a law enforcement
8 employee because such employee believes that he or she had reasonable
9 cause to intervene against police misconduct and intervened against such
10 police misconduct.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
