MO. GOVERNOR SIGNS POLICING LEGISLATION

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday signed bills that would increase police accountability, limit the use of officer chokeholds and, critics say, shield police while ramping up penalties for protesters.

One measure puts limits on investigations of officers and provides protection against civil claims unless the officer is criminally convicted, among a wide range of other policy changes.

The other limits police use of chokeholds. The chokehold provision was spearheaded by Democratic Sen. Brian Williams, of University City, who said it would “save Black lives.”

“This has been a long time coming,” Williams tweeted Tuesday.

Under the new Missouri law, police can only use chokeholds in self-defense, meaning a suspect presents a serious danger to the officer or someone else.

The broader measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, makes it a crime for police or prison guards to have sex with detainees, or to have sex with anyone else while they’re on duty if they use coercion.

It also includes a requirement that juveniles be represented by a lawyer if they’re facing charges that could mean incarceration and a mandate that jails and prisons provide women with tampons and menstrual pads.

Luetkemeyer’s bill will allow Kansas City police to live outside city limits. He sought the change in hopes of boosting the number of Kansas City police, but critics argued the move will lead to more distrust between Black residents and White officers who don’t live in the area they police.

Parson signed Luetkemeyer’s bill the same day he gave approval to the measure sometimes referred to as the police “bill of rights.”

The new law, sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Eigel, spells out procedures for disciplining police. Among other things, it requires records of any administrative investigation to be confidential and kept secret from the public, except by subpoena or court order.

Another provision prohibits decreasing the budget for a policing agency by more than 12 percent compared to the jurisdiction’s other departments over a five-year period.

Eigel’s legislation also targets protesters.

The bill upgrades the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony if someone vandalizes “any public monument or structure on public property.” Another provision creates a new class D misdemeanor for anyone who “willfully or recklessly” interferes with an ambulance.