By Crystal Thomas
The Joplin Globe
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Two bills enhancing protections for Missouri law officers — a priority laid out by the new governor and Republican leadership at the beginning of the session — passed in the Missouri House on Thursday.
The bills follow some high-profile shootings of law officers in the state and around the country.
In July, Ballwin police officer Mike Flamion was shot in the neck during a traffic stop; and in November, St. Louis police Sgt. Tom Lake was shot twice in the face in what was described by the police chief as an “ambush.”
After Lake was shot, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens called for establishing a Blue Alert system in the state, similar to Amber and Silver alerts, that would push out a notification through text messages and to broadcasters if an officer has been shot or attacked.
In his recommendations for the next budget year, Greitens slotted $250,000 specifically for the Blue Alert system despite cuts to other areas of the state budget.
“The governor has a simple message for law enforcement all over the state: ‘I’ve got your back,’” Parker Briden, the governor’s press secretary, told the Globe in an email.
Twenty-seven other states have already approved a similar system.
State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, said he began inquiring about a Blue Alert system for Missouri after Flamion was shot.
As a co-sponsor of the bill, Dogan said it was a reasonable step to take to help police officers. According to the bill’s fiscal note, it would cost the state $60,000 — a reduction from the governor’s recommendation. Dogan also said that he was hoping to get private donations to help fund the system.
“Sometimes a law enforcement officer being injured hits the news, but not always,” Dogan said. “This will help apprehend the suspect before they (flee) out of the state.”
That bill passed overwhelmingly, 146-6.
Opponents of the bill said it was unnecessary because police officers use dispatchers to communicate with each other when an officer is shot, and officers getting injured or killed in the line of duty usually is major news anyway.
The other public notification systems — Amber, for children, and Silver for seniors who usually have dementia or Alzheimer’s — are issued urgently because they cater to missing people who cannot defend themselves, said state Rep. Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, who argued that the alert system for law enforcement officers is not needed.
“This is seeking to fix a problem that doesn’t exist,” Ellington said.
Tougher penalties
Greitens also said he supported tougher criminal penalties for those who injure officers, and a measure to do that, while it stirred more debate, also passed overwhelmingly, 120-35.
State Rep. Marsha Haefner’s bill would create a special class of penalties when law enforcement officers are shot. Under the current law, someone could be accused of voluntary manslaughter if they kill someone without planning it beforehand. That person could be charged with a Class B felony and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Under the new law, if a person commits voluntary manslaughter on a police officer, he would be charged with a Class A felony and could receive a maximum of life in prison.
Haefner, R-St. Louis, said that she feels negative attitudes toward law enforcement officers have increased in the past couple of years. She spoke about protests in which police officers have been targeted, saying it is sometimes better for lawmakers to be proactive in their protections instead of reactive.
Last July, one man shot six police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the wake of an officer-involved shooting; three died and three were hospitalized, one critically. That came just weeks after a shooting targeting police officers in Dallas, in which five officers were killed and nine others injured, as well as two civilians.
Some lawmakers acknowledged that they voted for the sentiment of standing with law enforcement officers, though they knew the bill might not necessarily keep officers from getting hurt.
“This bill is not going to stop a bullet,” state Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union, said before he voted in favor the bill. “Body armor stops bullets.”
Ellington, who opposed the bill, said earlier this week that making the penalties harsher started the state down a “slippery slope” of giving certain people more weight under the law.
In an interview with the Globe, he also said that, unlike law enforcement officers who are a part of institutions, civilians don’t have any way to keep bad actors accountable. The sentiment was echoed on the House floor by several black lawmakers, adding to an ongoing national conversation about the relationship between law enforcement and the black community.
“In my 39 years of life, the judicial system has not been balanced, nor has (it) been fair,” said state Rep. Clem Smith, R-St. Louis.
Missouri’s legislation also comes in the wake of a national conversation about policing and race sparked by the 2014 police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown near St. Louis. Since that time, lawmakers have grappled with responses to violence against police, allegations of racial profiling by officers and a state justice system under scrutiny.
Ellington said that if the General Assembly was serious about supporting law enforcement officers it would add more funding for their equipment, especially body cameras, which he said increases the trust between the public and officers and keeps everyone safe.
All Southwest Missouri lawmakers voted for both bills.
“This is a reasonable thing for us to do,” state Rep. Bill White, R-Joplin, said. “People need to know if there is one attack on a police officer, it’s an attack on our society as a whole.”
Both bills must be passed by the state Senate before they can be signed by the governor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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©2017 The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.)