LEGISLATIVE UPDATE- On 2/22/2024 the Missouri House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee voted and approved 19-0 to move forward - great news!!

The Valentine law is named after St. Louis County Police Detective Antonio Valentine who lost his life in a police pursuit when his vehicle was struck head on by a fleeing stolen car. This law seeks to make it a felony for any person to flee from the police while committing a crime. LELC believes this law will assist law enforcement across the State in removing violent offenders and making every community safer by taking those persons who would run from the police and endanger society into custody.

Across the State juveniles are being released immediately after the commission of violent crime and weapons violations. LELC is working with the Office of the State Court Administration and Juvenile Justice Authorities in common sense juvenile reform and changes to juvenile offender accountability. The goal is to keep violent juvenile offenders in custody thus making each community safer.

MO Statute 44.095, commonly referred to as the Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Region law, currently grants authority to chief law enforcement executive or their designee, from agencies in Jackson, Clay, Platte, Cass and Ray counties to request assistance in critical incidents from agencies from Kansas agencies in Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Critical incidents is defined as” an incident that could result in physical injury or loss of life.” In those instances, those outside law enforcement officials would have law enforcement power as well as “qualified immunity, sovereign immunity, official immunity, and the public duty rule shall apply to the provisions of this section as interpreted by the federal and state courts of the responding agency.“ HB 1577 and HB 1707 would amend 44.095 to include all agencies within Missouri and would also remove the “critical incident” criteria, thereby allowing MO chief law enforcement executives or their designee the ability to request any assistance from agencies outside the State of Missouri and affording the same rights and protections to those law enforcement officials coming into Missouri upon request.

More Info