A major anti-crime bill has been put in jeopardy by two state senators who are uncompromising on whether Kansas City police officers should be able to be politically active.
The legislature has not passed a major omnibus crime bill for several years. Senator Lu Ann Ridgeway says she will filibuster the bill because Senator Charlie Shields got an amendment added letting Kansas City policemen take part in campaigns. That, says senator Matt Bartle of Lee’s Summit, means his bill has just flat-lined. If’s on the shelf. "We have some fixes on our sex offender statutes where we have some concern about what the courts have said on intent. We have corrected those problems. There is some potential there are some sex offenders we would not be able to convict as a result of not getting this passed this year," he says, "We also have a major cattle rustling problem. We have two provisions in there that relate to cattle rustling"
Also in danger: Prohibitions against people using fake diplomas; defense against civil liability for people who kill dogs that attack them; bans on drunkenness and carousing on float streams, and expansion of the crime of resisting arrest, tougher penalties for spectators at dog fights, a ban on use of alcoholic beverage vaporizers, and clarifications of rules on police interrogations.
Bartle thinks all of those issues are goners unless Shields and Ridgeway drop their disagreement that threatens the entire bill.
Download Bob Priddy’s story (:58 mp3)
