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Luetkemeyer reintroduces "Max's law" to increase penalties for injuring or killing police dogs

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Currently harming a police dog is a misdemeanor property case.

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) A Missouri state senator has once again presented a bill that changes injuring or killing a police dog into a felony offense.

State Senator Tony Luetkemeyer presented "Max's Law" in honor of St. Joseph K-9 officer Max who was killed in the line of duty in 2021.

The legislation elevates injuring a police dog to a Class E felony, and killing a police dog to a Class D felony, which would be punishable with up to seven years in prison.

Currently, harming a police dog is a misdemeanor property charge.

“It's more than just a dog. These are police officers. These are commissioned police officers. They wear badges, they go out there, they protect their human partners. They intervene in a lot of very dangerous situations. And we need to make sure that the law adequately protects them,” Senator Luetkemeyer says. “We actually had a police officer with another department that came and testified in front of the committee earlier this week. And he revealed that, and I didn't realize this until he said it. But the penalty for smashing a window of a police cruiser is a harsher penalty than killing a canine officer. And that just doesn't make any sense.” 

This is the second time Max's Law has been filed, last year the legislation passed the senate and the house but the bill was delayed on the governor's desk on the last day of session.

 

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