News from the Senate Majority
Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

Legislative Package Helps Peace Officers Protect Public Safety

For Immediate Release: February 12, 1998 Contact: Mike Pauley, Assistant to Senator Loren Leman, (907) 465-3841.

Juneau – Peace officers and public safety alike will benefit from a package of bills introduced this morning in the Senate, according to sponsor Senator Loren Leman (R-Anchorage).

"I respect and admire our peace officers who put their lives on the line for the citizens of Alaska," said Leman. "From Ketchikan to Anchorage to Unalaska, our state troopers and local police face uncertain dangers on a daily basis."

Leman's package include three bills:

• SB 300: Fleeing a Police Officer. Police departments across the nation are reviewing and modifying their policies on high-speed chases, to protect innocent bystanders. To further discourage such dangerous pursuits, SB 300 toughens penalties on crime suspects who elude police. The bill creates a new offense classificiation, "failure to stop in the first degree" which is designated a Class C felony. This offense applies to a suspect who knowingly refuses to stop and violates another law, ordinance, or traffic regulation, such as reckless driving.
• SB 301: Three-Time Violent Offenders. Persons who have been convicted of three or more violent misdemeanors within a ten-year period will be subject to the penalty for a Class C felony. SB 301 sends a message to career criminals who currently skirt Alaska's felony statutes by repeatedly committing violent misdemeanors, which include such offenses as assault in the fourth degree, violating a domestic violence restraining order, or stalking in the second degree. The message is that a pattern of violent behavior, even if only misdemeanors, will not be tolerated.
• SB 302: False Information to a Peace Officer. Under current law, it is a Class C felony for a person to give a false identity to a police officer while under arrest or detention for a felony offense. SB 302 creates a similar offense applicable tothe misdemeanor statutes: a person guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for giving false identity to a peace officer while under arrest or detention for a misdemeanor.

Senator Leman stated his bills provide additional options for dealing with criminals. "We're providing our police and our courts some additional tools to deal with those who threaten public safety," he noted.

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