SF 466

1st Engrossment - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 08/20/2015 10:02am

A bill for an act
relating to public safety; requiring outside agencies to investigate peace
officer-involved deaths; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 626.

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

Section 1.

new text begin [626.891] 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: (1) "law enforcement agency"
has the meaning given in section 626.84, subdivision 1, paragraph (f); (2) "officer-involved
incident" means the use of force by a peace officer with the purpose of causing, or that the
officer should reasonably know creates a substantial risk of causing, great bodily harm or
death, and that actually results in great bodily harm or death to another while the officer
is on duty or off duty but performing activities that are within the scope of the officer's
law enforcement duties; and (3) "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 is traffic-related and involves a crash, in addition to
the other requirements described in this subdivision, the investigation must include a crash
reconstruction unit from a law enforcement agency other than the agency that employs the
peace officer involved in the incident. The agency conducting an investigation under this
subdivision must expeditiously provide a complete report to the county attorney of the
county in which the officer-involved incident occurred. 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 county attorney determines there is no basis to
prosecute the peace officer involved in the officer-involved incident, the attorney 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