HB 33 Summary

• Requires county sheriffs and municipal police departments to issue reasonable guidelines for neighborhood crime watch programs that prohibit patrol participants from confronting suspects except where a reasonable person would be authorized to assist another person.

• Authorizes use of non-deadly force to defend property and deadly force to defend property or prevent imminent commission of a forcible felony.

• Grants immunity from civil action to persons who use justified force, with law enforcement agencies retaining full investigative rights; changes court authority to award attorney fees, court costs, and expenses from mandatory to discretionary.

• Establishes burden of proof for aggressors who use deadly force to show they used reasonable means to avoid danger and that force was reasonably necessary; allows comparative fault in civil actions involving aggressors.

• Creates statewide database requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to collect and annually report data on all justifiable use of force incidents, with law enforcement agencies reporting monthly to the department from initial claim through case resolution.