Judiciary committee advances bill to allow warrantless arrest for repeated harassing 911 calls

The Judiciary Committee voted to give House Bill 1418 a do-pass recommendation after witnesses and law-enforcement officials described repeated, harassing calls to 911 that can tie up dispatch centers and take hours or longer to address through the normal warrant process.

Representative Lawrence Clameen of District 47 (Bismarck), the bill sponsor at the hearing, told the committee the measure adds a misdemeanor exemption allowing a warrantless arrest for the offense of "harassing a public safety agency" or making a false report to a public safety agency under subsection 4 of North Dakota Century Code section 12.1-17-07. "This section deals with, when, an arrest can be made without a warrant," Clameen said, summarizing the change.

The bill matters to public-safety operations because subsection 4 of NDCC 12.1-17-07 defines a person who initiates communications with a 911 emergency line, a public safety answering point…