Prosecutor supports bill to protect police

OLYMPIA - The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is

hoping Legislature will pass a new bill to further protect on-duty

law enforcement against threatening statements.

House Bill 1206, which amends RCW 9A.46.020 the state's current

harassment law, has a Grant County advocate, prosecuting attorney

Angus Lee.

OLYMPIA - The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is hoping Legislature will pass a new bill to further protect on-duty law enforcement against threatening statements.

House Bill 1206, which amends RCW 9A.46.020 the state's current harassment law, has a Grant County advocate, prosecuting attorney Angus Lee.

The bill was drafted after Lee, along with other prosecuting attorneys, requested the association introduce a new bill that would make it a felony offense to make threats against an on-duty law enforcement officer.

Lee stated the passage of the bill would "provide greater protection to the men and woman of law enforcement from the threats and intimidation attempted by the worst of the worst."

According to House Bill 1206, a person can be found guilty of a class C felony if "the person harasses a criminal justice participant who is performing his or her official duties at the time the threat is made; or the person harasses a criminal justice participant because of an action taken or decision made by the criminal justice participant during the performance of his or her official duties."

A criminal justice participant includes a "peace officer, a prosecuting attorney, a deputy prosecuting attorney, a defense attorney, a member of the indeterminate sentence review board, a community corrections officer, a probation or parole officer, a full-time or part-time staff member of any juvenile corrections institution or local juvenile detention facilities" and any adult corrections institution staff, according to the bill.

Anyone found guilty of harassing or threatening a "criminal justice participant" can face up to a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, stated she believed the bill will create a deterrent.

"I applaud Prosecutor Angus Lee for helping to draft House Bill 1206. A threat made against any member of the criminal justice system must be taken very seriously and the consequences of those threats must be serious as well," said Warnick. "As we know all too well here in Washington and across the nation, verbal threats against others many times turn into violent acts."

Under current law, there is no distinction between harassing a law enforcement officer and harassing any other person, stated Lee.

"So currently, when an officer arrests someone and that person threatens to find them and their family (which does happen), it is only a gross misdemeanor," he said.

Lee added House Bill 1206 will additionally benefit Grant County law enforcement because of its small communities.

"Post-arrest threats are becoming more and more common. This is particularly problematic in an area such as Grant County where we live in communities small enough that local criminals and gang (members) know where local police officers live. This makes the prospect of the threat being acted on more realistic and possible, and therefore more troubling to the threatened," stated Lee.

He recounted an incident involving a Quincy police officer in 2007, where a male suspect told the officer he knew where he lived and made threats toward the officer as he drove the man to jail.

The state charged the male suspect with intimidating a public servant. Three years later, the case was dismissed when the Supreme Court ruled that the threats were not "legally sufficient to support charges for intimidation of a public servant," according to Lee.

House Bill 1206 is sponsored by 17 representatives.

The legislation received a public hearing in the House Committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The bill is scheduled for an executive session in the committee on Friday.

If the bill passes the committee, it will move on to the Senate to be considered.