PA To Consider Adopting Significant Police Protection Measures

HARRISBURG, PA — With three Pennsylvania police officers killed in the line of duty in recent months, a state lawmaker is preparing to introduce legislation that would provide better protection for officers across the state.

Rep. Amen Brown, a Philadelphia Democrat, is proposing four bills that he contends would make for a safer environment for police and the communities that they serve.

"It is clear that we can no longer sit idly by as the noble law enforcement officers who keep us safe lack the protection they require to perform their duties safely," Brown wrote in a memo to fellow legislators. "We have the ability to change this situation overnight, and this proposal, if adopted, is the first step in accomplishing that goal."

Brown is calling his legislative package Fitzgerald's Law, named after Temple University police officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31. He was shot and killed Feb. 18 while on duty attempting to intervene in a carjacking.

"Officer Fitzgerald bravely served his community and patrolled an area that recently experienced several robberies and carjackings when the senseless attack occurred," Brown wrote.

In addition to Fitzgerald, two officers in Western Pennsylvania recently were shot to death.

Last month in McKeesport, a city near Pittsburgh,officer Sean Sluganski, 32, was shot and killed on duty. His accused killer was wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

In January, Justin McIntire, 46, the police chief in Brackenridge near Pittsburgh, was killed in an ambush. The suspect later died in an encounter with city police.

Brown's legislative package is as follows:

• A bill requiring officers be accompanied by a partner whenever working in a critical crime area as designated by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. "It is designed to ensure that our guardians have secondary protection from those who would do them harm," Brown wrote.

• A bill requiring that all officers be issued level IIIA body armor while on duty to protect them from people using firearms that can penetrate bulletproof vests.

• A bill creating a grant program to enable municipalities to install audible gunshot detection technology in areas with high rates of firearm-related violence.

• A bill authorizing the use of technology that facilitates the review of video data, a process that can take numerous days, to enable more rapid investigations of incidents involving serious bodily injuries.