An effort to clarify the duty police officers have to render aid to the injured saw law enforcement advocates split on the issue before a House subcommittee Monday.
According to bill patron Delegate Dan Helmer, HB273 aims to clarify the role law enforcement has when someone is injured in their presence.
“One, you have a duty to render aid and two, if you render aid in a critical moment and you are doing so in good faith that you are protected from liability except for gross negligence and willful misconduct,” Helmer told the committee Monday.
The Fairfax-area delegate said it could cover officer-involved-shootings or when an officer happens upon an injured person, and the bill requires the development of state-wide training.
But law enforcement groups were split on the effort.
Former state Senator Bill Carrico is now with the Virginia State Police Association. He feared it could remove legal protections for officers and open police to more litigation.
“This is going to create more and more issues and more and more problems for us to recruit and retain troopers for the Virginia State Police,” Carrico told the committee.
But Elizabeth Hobbs with the Virginia Sheriffs Association spoke in favor of the measure, “as a statement of what they consider to already be their duty and the obligations they’re already performing under.”
Even law enforcement hawks on the committee, including Republican Delegate Jason Ballard, admitted the bill didn’t seem to be the "parade of horribles" some feared.
“I’m surprised we don’t already do this and it's not codified," Ballard said. "I’m gonna vote no to flag it, just so we can flag it and have a full discussion in Courts [of Justice Committee]. But that doesn’t mean I’ll always be a no.”
The bill passed 7 to 2, it now heads to the full committee for more debate.
