Assembly approves bill raising penalties for some assaults against police

The bill calls for raised penalties and blood tests for suspects who attack law enforcement and others with bodily fluids. (Getty Images)

The Assembly unanimously approved legislation Thursday that would increase punishment for certain assaults against law enforcement officials and require suspects to be tested for diseases in attacks involving bodily fluids.

The bill would upgrade penalties for aggravated assaults against police officers that result in serious bodily harm — injuries so severe they risk death, permanent disfigurement, or prolonged loss of function — to between five and 10 years of imprisonment, from zero to five years.

“Law enforcement and other emergency workers are exposed to dangers most of us can’t even imagine simply because of their line of work,” said bill sponsor Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R-Ocean). “They are targets for vile attacks because of who they are and what they do. They need to know that justice will be sought if they are attacked on the job.”

Those charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer would be ineligible for pretrial intervention under the bill’s provisions.

Civil rights groups warned the provisions would keep some offenders from obtaining services to aid their rehabilitation and would fail to reduce such assaults.

“Overwhelmingly, people engaged in these acts are in severe mental distress, and require treatment, not punishment. The bill’s provisions implicate fundamental civil rights and perpetuate a tough-on-crime approach that has been proven, time and again, to only exacerbate mass incarceration,” said Sarah Fajardo, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

The legislation would also bar conviction mergers that could see lower offenses dismissed against a person charged with any assault against a law enforcement official.

In addition, the bill would heighten penalties for damaging assaults involving bodily fluids against a range of first responders and volunteers. Penalties for that offense would rise to between 5 and 10 years in prison, from zero to five.

“Not only have attacks on law enforcement officers been increasing, attackers have been resorting to spitting, biting, and other depraved actions that put these men and women at risk for disease,” Sauickie said. “Would-be attackers need to know that such violence will not be tolerated .”

Under the bill, if a person commits a bodily fluids assault, the judge overseeing their case would be required to issue a warrant to test their blood for communicable diseases if the court finds the bodily fluids made contact with a victim and placed them at risk of contracting a disease.

Blood samples drawn under such a warrant would be barred from being used for any other purpose unless authorities obtain a separate warrant for that use, and the samples must be destroyed after testing in the absence of a second warrant.

The Senate must still approve the bill before it reaches Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk, though that isn’t expected to be much of a hurdle. The chamber in June unanimously approved an earlier version of the bill.

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