II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1175 

To protect Federal, State, and local public safety officers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 18, 2017 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To protect Federal, State, and local public safety officers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Our Heroes 

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Law enforcement officers, first responders, 

9 and public safety officials risk their lives every day 

10 to serve and protect our neighborhoods and commu11 nities. 


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1 (2) These men and women are true public serv2 ants who regularly sacrifice and encounter grave 

3 daily harm. 

4 (3) The families of law enforcement officers, 

5 first responders, and public safety officials also sac6 rifice and contribute to their roles as guardians of 

7 the public good. 

8 (4) In recent times, it has become apparent 

9 that these women and men are being targeted inten10 tionally by criminals in our society. 

11 (5) Congress must do all it can to promote a 

12 system of law and order which enables law enforce13 ment officers, first responders, and public safety of14 ficials to properly do their jobs. 

15 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS. 

16 (a) KILLING OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS.— 

17 (1) OFFENSE.—Chapter 51 of title 18, United 

18 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘§ 1123. Killing of public safety officers 

21 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

22 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘Federal law enforcement officer’ 

23 and ‘United States judge’ have the meanings given 

24 those terms in section 115; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘federally funded public safety of2 ficer’ means a public safety officer or judicial officer 

3 for a public agency that— 

4 ‘‘(A) receives Federal financial assistance; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) is an agency of an entity that is a 

7 State of the United States, the District of Co8 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

9 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 

10 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is11 lands, or any territory or possession of the 

12 United States, an Indian tribe, or a unit of 

13 local government of that entity; 

14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 

15 serving as an officially recognized or designated 

16 member of a legally organized volunteer fire depart17 ment and an officially recognized or designated pub18 lic employee member of a rescue squad or ambulance 

19 crew; 

20 ‘‘(4) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 

21 other officer or employee of a court, including pros22 ecutors, court security, pretrial services officers, 

23 court reporters, and corrections, probation, and pa24 role officers; 


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1 ‘‘(5) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 

2 an individual, with arrest powers, involved in crime 

3 or juvenile delinquency control or reduction or en4 forcement of the laws; 

5 ‘‘(6) the term ‘public agency’ includes a court 

6 system, the National Guard of a State to the extent 

7 the personnel of that National Guard are not in 

8 Federal service, and the defense forces of a State 

9 authorized by section 109 of title 32; and 

10 ‘‘(7) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 

11 individual serving a public agency in an official ca12 pacity, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, 

13 as a chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or 

14 ambulance crew. 

15 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for any person 

16 to— 

17 ‘‘(1) kill, or attempt or conspire to kill— 

18 ‘‘(A) a United States judge; 

19 ‘‘(B) a Federal law enforcement officer; or 

20 ‘‘(C) a federally funded public safety offi21 cer while that officer is engaged in official du22 ties, or on account of the performance of offi23 cial duties; or 

24 ‘‘(2) kill a former United States judge, Federal 

25 law enforcement officer, or federally funded public 


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1 safety officer on account of the past performance of 

2 official duties. 

3 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person that violates 

5 subsection (b) shall be fined under this title and im6 prisoned for not less than 10 years or for life, or, 

7 if death results, shall be sentenced to not less than 

8 30 years and not more than life, or may be punished 

9 by death. 

10 ‘‘(2) ENHANCED PENALTY.—Any person that, 

11 in the commission of a violation of subsection (b), 

12 lures a public safety officer to a location for the pur13 pose of killing, or attempting to kill, the public safe14 ty officer shall, in addition to a penalty under para15 graph (1), be fined under this title and imprisoned 

16 for not less than 5 years.’’. 

17 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 

18 for chapter 51 of title 18, United States Code, is 

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘1123. Killing of public safety officers.’’. 

20 (b) ASSAULT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS.— 

21 (1) OFFENSE.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 

22 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘§ 120. Assaults of public safety officers 

25 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘federally funded public safety of2 ficer’ means a public safety officer or judicial officer 

3 for a public agency that— 

4 ‘‘(A) receives Federal financial assistance; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) is an agency of an entity that is a 

7 State of the United States, the District of Co8 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

9 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 

10 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is11 lands, or any territory or possession of the 

12 United States, an Indian tribe, or a unit of 

13 local government of that entity; 

14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘firefighter’ includes an individual 

15 serving as an officially recognized or designated 

16 member of a legally organized volunteer fire depart17 ment and an officially recognized or designated pub18 lic employee member of a rescue squad or ambulance 

19 crew; 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘judicial officer’ means a judge or 

21 other officer or employee of a court, including pros22 ecutors, court security, pretrial services officers, 

23 court reporters, and corrections, probation, and pa24 role officers; 


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1 ‘‘(4) the term ‘law enforcement officer’ means 

2 an individual, with arrest powers, involved in crime 

3 or juvenile delinquency control or reduction or en4 forcement of the laws; 

5 ‘‘(5) the term ‘public agency’ includes a court 

6 system, the National Guard of a State to the extent 

7 the personnel of that National Guard are not in 

8 Federal service, and the defense forces of a State 

9 authorized by section 109 of title 32; and 

10 ‘‘(6) the term ‘public safety officer’ means an 

11 individual serving a public agency in an official ca12 pacity, as a law enforcement officer, as a firefighter, 

13 as a chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or 

14 ambulance crew. 

15 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful to assault, or 

16 attempt to assault, a federally funded public safety officer 

17 while engaged in or on account of the performance of offi18 cial duties, or assaults any person who formerly served as 

19 a federally funded public safety officer on account of the 

20 performance of such person’s official duties during such 

21 service, or because of the actual or perceived status of the 

22 person as a federally funded public safety officer. 

23 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person that violates 

2 subsection (b) shall be subject to a fine under this 

3 title and— 

4 ‘‘(A) if the assault resulted in bodily injury 

5 (as defined in section 1365), shall be impris6 oned not less than 2 years and not more than 

7 10 years; 

8 ‘‘(B) if the assault resulted in substantial 

9 bodily injury (as defined in section 113), shall 

10 be imprisoned not less than 5 years and not 

11 more than 20 years; 

12 ‘‘(C) if the assault resulted in serious bod13 ily injury (as defined in section 1365), shall be 

14 imprisoned for not less than 10 years; 

15 ‘‘(D) if a deadly or dangerous weapon was 

16 used during and in relation to the assault, shall 

17 be imprisoned for not less than 20 years; and 

18 ‘‘(E) shall be imprisoned for not more than 

19 1 year in any other case. 

20 ‘‘(2) ENHANCED PENALTY.—Any person that, 

21 in the commission of a violation of subsection (b), 

22 lures a public safety officer to a location for the pur23 pose of assaulting, or attempting to assault, the pub24 lic safety officer shall, in addition to a penalty under 


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1 paragraph (1), be fined under this title and impris2 oned for not less than 5 years.’’. 

3 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 

4 for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘120. Assaults of public safety officers.’’. 

Æ 


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