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Lawmakers hear bills to increase penalties for disarming on-duty officers; sponsor cites past on-duty incidents
Summary
Representative Mueller sponsored House Bills 50-79 and 50-80 to raise penalties for disarming a uniformed, on-duty officer; he described personal experience and said the proposal seeks penalties aligned with unarmed-robbery statutes. The Attorney General's office and law-enforcement groups submitted support cards; no committee vote was recorded.
Representative Mueller presented House Bills 50-79 and 50-80 to the House Judiciary Committee, seeking to increase penalties for attempting to disarm a uniformed, on-duty police officer and for taking an officer’s firearm. Mueller said current law treats an attempt to disarm a uniformed officer as a five-year felony and taking a gun from an on-duty officer as a 10-year felony; he proposed raising penalties to better match the seriousness of the act and drew a comparison to unarmed robbery penalties.
Mueller told the committee the change is intended to make “the punishment fit the crime,” and he described multiple on-duty incidents from his career in which weapons were grabbed; he said one earlier package of similar bills passed the House but later died in the Senate. He told the committee he was open to negotiation on exact sentencing and on consecutive vs. concurrent provisions in sentencing guidelines.
Committee members asked for incident frequency data and clarified the bills target a person who knows the victim is a sworn, on-duty officer. Representative Breen asked how often such weapon-take incidents occur; Mueller said he could provide statistics later. Representative Carter asked about concurrent and consecutive sentencing; Mueller said he would work with members and legislative staff to refine guidelines language.
Support was entered by card for the Attorney General’s Office and the Michigan Sheriffs Association; the transcript notes the Department of Attorney General and Michigan Sheriffs Association submitted cards supporting the bills. The transcript contains no recorded committee vote on these bills during the hearing.
