STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1987--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 18, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, RAMOS, RIVERA, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to law enforcement inter- vention against police misconduct The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-x 2 to read as follows: 3 § 837-x. Law enforcement intervention against police misconduct. 1. 4 Definitions. When used in this section, and unless the specific context 5 indicates otherwise, the following terms shall have the following mean- 6 ings: 7 (a) "Police misconduct" means conduct by a law enforcement officer in 8 the course of an arrest or otherwise in the official capacity of such 9 law enforcement officer that is: 10 (i) excessive, forceful, or violent and that is not justified under 11 section 35.30 of the penal law; 12 (ii) a false arrest; 13 (iii) sexual misconduct; or 14 (iv) witness tampering. 15 (b) A "law enforcement employee" means: 16 (i) any employee of the state police department, as defined in section 17 two hundred twenty-three of this chapter; 18 (ii) any employee of a county sheriff's department; or 19 (iii) any employee of a city, town, village, university, park, or 20 public authority's police department. 21 2. Immunity from liability and professional retaliation against a law 22 enforcement employee who intervenes against police misconduct. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03482-03-3S. 1987--A 2 1 (a) Any law enforcement employee who in good faith intervenes against 2 police misconduct in compliance with this article shall have immunity 3 from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise result by 4 reason of such actions. 5 (b) A law enforcement agency shall not take any retaliatory personnel 6 action, as such term is defined in paragraph (e) of subdivision one of 7 section seven hundred forty of the labor law, against a law enforcement 8 employee because such employee believes that he or she had reasonable 9 cause to intervene against police misconduct and intervened against such 10 police misconduct. 11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.