JEFFERSON CITY—The Senate advanced a bill this week that will update Missouri’s use of force law and add clarity for law enforcement officers. Missouri’s current statute is unconstitutional. This update to the law will align Missouri with the ruling from the 1985 U.S. Supreme Court Case Tennessee v. Garner that clarified when a police officer can use deadly force.

“According to Missouri law right now, the committing of any felony can be grounds for use of deadly force, even if a person was convicted of writing a bad check,” said Senate Leader Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles. “That law put us in direct conflict with the Supreme Court ruling. We needed to update our statute, raise the standard and provide clarity to our law enforcement officers.”

Senate Bill 199 will allow an officer to use deadly force only when the officer is making an arrest and “reasonably believes” the force is immediately necessary to make the arrest. The measure will also allow for the use of deadly force if the law enforcement officer is arresting or preventing an escape from custody when the person has committed a specific kind of felony offense. The bill also states that the use of force is not justified unless the amount of force used was “objectively reasonable” in light of all the facts and circumstances.

Bill sponsor Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, said the language in the bill passed this week was the culmination of the efforts of people and groups across the state.

“This revision of our law has been an ongoing, deliberative process with continued input from my colleagues, prosecutors, law enforcement and other interested parties,” said Dixon. “As we have sought to make certain that the language of our law clearly reflects Supreme Court precedent and case law, I have worked closely with Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, and Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, who have been voices for change and tireless advocates for justice.”

“In consideration of the multiple U.S. Supreme Court opinions on the use of deadly force, Missouri statute was out of line. It was necessary to update this area of law to clarify what is unacceptable, in order to set a better standard for juries in police shootings of fleeing individuals. It was a pleasure to work with Sen. Dixon and to have what I judged to be the most important terminology – objective reasonableness – included in the legislation passed this week,” said Chappelle-Nadal.

The bill will now move to the House for consideration. To learn more about this bill or to track its progress, visit www.senate.mo.gov.