HF 2736

as introduced - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 03/15/2016 09:36am

A bill for an act
relating to public safety; requiring outside agencies to investigate peace
officer-involved incidents that result in great bodily harm or death; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 8.01; proposing coding for new law in
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 626.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 8.01, is amended to read:

8.01 APPEARANCE.

new text begin (a) new text end The attorney general shall appear for the state in all causes in the supreme and
federal courts wherein the state is directly interested; also in all civil causes of like nature
in all other courts of the state whenever, in the attorney general's opinion, the interests of
the state require it. new text begin Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b), new text end upon request of the
county attorney, the attorney general shall appear in court in such criminal cases as the
attorney general deems proper. Upon request of a county attorney, the attorney general
may assume the duties of the county attorney in sexual psychopathic personality and
sexually dangerous person commitment proceedings under chapter 253D. Whenever the
governor shall so request, in writing, the attorney general shall prosecute any person
charged with an indictable offense, and in all such cases may attend upon the grand jury
and exercise the powers of a county attorney.

new text begin (b) The attorney general shall prosecute all cases, including appearances before the
grand jury, required to be investigated by outside law enforcement agencies under section
626.892.
new text end

Sec. 2.

new text begin [626.892] PEACE OFFICER-INVOLVED INCIDENTS; OUTSIDE
INVESTIGATION REQUIRED.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin As used in this section:
new text end

new text begin (1) "deadly force" has the meaning given in section 609.066, subdivision 1;
new text end

new text begin (2) "great bodily harm" means bodily injury that creates a high probability of death,
or causes serious permanent disfigurement, or causes a permanent or protracted loss or
impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ;
new text end

new text begin (3) "law enforcement agency" has the meaning given in section 626.84, subdivision
1, paragraph (f);
new text end

new text begin (4) "officer-involved incident" means the use of deadly force by a peace officer while
the officer is on duty or off duty but performing activities that are within the scope of the
officer's law enforcement duties that results in great bodily harm or death of another; and
new text end

new text begin (5) "peace officer" has the meaning given in section 626.84, subdivision 1, paragraph
(c).
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Officer-involved incident investigations. new text end

new text begin The chief law enforcement
officer of a law enforcement agency shall ensure that when a peace officer employed by
the agency is involved in an officer-involved incident, an investigation into the incident
occurs and is conducted by a law enforcement agency other than the agency that employs
the officer. If the officer-involved incident involves a peace officer employed by a police
department in a city of the first class, the required investigation must be conducted by the
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. If the bureau is not able to conduct the investigation in
a timely manner, another outside agency may be selected to conduct the investigation. The
agency conducting an investigation under this subdivision must expeditiously provide a
complete report to the attorney general. An internal investigation into the officer-involved
incident may be completed by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer
involved in the incident if the internal investigation does not interfere with the outside
investigation conducted under this subdivision.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Release of report. new text end

new text begin If the attorney general determines there is no basis
to prosecute the peace officer involved in the officer-involved incident, the attorney
general shall inform the law enforcement agency that conducted the investigation of this
determination and the agency shall release the report to the public.
new text end