Marsico Legislation Expands Public Safety in Pennsylvania
5/9/2012
HARRISBURG – Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Lower Paxton) is pleased to announce that his legislation to modify the definition of “municipal police officer” in order to maximize the ability of an officer to serve and protect our citizens passed unanimously out of the House of Representatives.

“Currently, if an officer who gets a call for assistance from a fellow officer and is employed by an airport authority police department, or a transportation authority police department, or a university police department or the like, he or she has no authority to act, even if officer is fully certified and has the same mandatory training required by the Municipal Police Officer Education and Training Act,” said Marisco. “This is ludicrous to me. Today, more than ever, police agencies are dealing with a shortage of officers and need to be able to work efficiently, effectively and cooperatively.”

Under our current law, if a police officer calls for help, officers from another municipality can respond and have the full authority of their office to render assistance, even though they are outside their primary jurisdiction.

Also under our current law, if a municipal police officer is pursuing an offender who crosses the jurisdictional boundaries, he or she may pursue the offender into the other jurisdiction and have full police powers to arrest or stop the suspect.

However, this authority ONLY applies to an officer who is employed by a municipality.

House Bill 2071 will correct that deficiency and permit those officers who are fully certified by Municipal Police Officer Education and Training Act (MPOETC) and have met the requirements of MPOETC’s mandatory training to act with full authority outside of their jurisdiction in the same circumstances as municipal police officers can. This will provide additional protection to officers and additional protection to the public.

“I am thrilled that I received overwhelming support of this legislation by my fellow House members,” Marsico said. “I am always looking for ways to expand public safety in the Commonwealth and this measure will certainly assist in that endeavor.”

House Bill 2071 now heads to the Senate.
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