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During the year of
2000, it became apparent to leadership within Mississippi PBA
that more and more law enforcement officers within the state
were being charged with criminal allegations through warrants
issued by Justice Courts within the state. In most every
instance the affiant of the warrant was a person recently
arrested by the officer or a relative thereof. It was the
discussion of such incidents at PBA chapter meetings around the
state that brought this problem to the forefront.
Over the next several months, cases of this type involving PBA
members spanning over about a two year period were identified.
Case information including adjudication was collected and
reviewed. It became quite clear that the arrest warrants taken
against these officers had no merit. Of the 25 or so cases
reviewed, not the first officer had been found guilty of the
accusations contained in the warrant. The warrants were simply
retaliatory actions against the officers by the persons
arrested.
The need to address this problem was discussed at the next
annual meeting of the Mississippi PBA Board of Directors in the
latter part of 2000. It was determined that action should be
taken to invoke change in the current law. While PBA leadership
agreed that law enforcement officers must perform their duties
within the scope of law and must be accountable for their
actions, they should not be harassed and persecuted while
fulfilling their duties properly.
During the 2001 session of the Mississippi Legislature, PBA
requested the introduction of a bill which would require that a
circuit court judge hold a probable cause hearing before an
arrest warrant could be issued against a law enforcement officer
for any violation alleged to have been committed while in the
performance of duties. This legislation also gave the officer
the right to present witnesses and evidence and be represented
by legal counsel at such hearing. The legislation was introduced
in the House of Representatives by Representative Greg Snowden
and in the Senate by Senator Gray Tollison.
While the bill was still in committee process, it was found that
some elements of the legislature did not want the bill to pass.
During that same time, an educator with the Lee County School
System was arrested on a warrant issued by a Justice Court for
allegedly assaulting a student. The educator was strip searched
as a part of routine process when placed into the Lee County
jail. Needless to say, this news reached the state capitol
quickly. PBA was soon approached about the inclusion of
educators along with law enforcement in the legislation we had
requested. PBA voiced no objection to this proposed action and
the legislation was amended to include educators. The bill
eventually passed the Senate with much needed help from many of
the Senate’s members. The House however, did not pass the bill
without amending from its original form. Due to the House and
Senate not passing a like-worded bill the legislation was
assigned to a “Conference Committee.” The “Conference Committee”
is typically made up of an equal number of members of the House
and Senate. Their task is to compromise and if necessary amend
the legislation to meet the approval of both the House and
Senate. It was at this stage that a bizarre twist took place.
When the “Conference Committee” brought forth its
recommendations, law enforcement had been removed from the bill.
This bill passed the Senate and the House without delay. As a
result, this essentially gave educators the protection initially
sought by law enforcement and excluded law enforcement from the
protections of the act.
Much work was done during the remainder of 2001, in preparation
of the 2002 legislative session. In the 2002 session PBA
initiated legislation to amend the law passed the previous year
to include all law enforcement officers in the state. The bill
received tremendous support from legislators and became law
effective July 1, 2002. Since the effective date of this
statute, there have been several unsuccessful attempts by
suspects to secure arrest warrants against PBA member officers.
Though some have actually gone to a probable cause hearing as
prescribed by law, no arrest warrants have been issued to date.
--To view Mississippi Code §99-3-28, please visit
www.mscode.com.
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