The Iowa House recently passed a Senate originated bill about giving more protection to law enforcement.

House District 47 Representative Phil Thompson says the House added several provisions to the Senate bill that mostly dealt with disciplinary action for law enforcement. He points out some of the provisions included protecting law enforcement from being sued in situations where they have seconds to determine how they are going to handle an incident, along with validated benefits and expanded qualified immunity in the performance of law enforcement’s direct duties, to further protect them from civil and criminal liability.

Thompson comments about whether or not qualified immunity protects bad actors within the law enforcement community.

“(The) Courts are very capable of determining when somebody went above and beyond what is reasonable. We’re not saying that there’s no disciplinary action, there’s no procedure to review these actions. We’re just increasing the standard of review and making sure that the fact that these decisions are made in the heat of the moment that that is a factor that is considered.”

Thompson adds that the bill also has increased penalties for those that cause a riot or who block roads and intersections to conduct a protest. The legislation is back in the Senate for consideration.