Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights


The Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights is intended to protect American law enforcement personnel from investigation and prosecution arising from conduct during official performance of their duties, and provides them with privileges based on due process additional to those normally provided to other citizens. It was first set forth in 1974, following Supreme Court rulings in the cases of Garrity v. New Jersey and Gardner v. Broderick. It doesn't prohibit police departments from subjecting officers to drug tests.
Sixteen states have versions of the Bill written into their statutes. An additional eleven states are considering similar legislation, and many other states have similar provisions written into their contracts with police unions.
Critics say that the LEOBR makes it impossible to discipline or remove bad officers, including but not limited to after they have been convicted of felonies in the courts. Under LEOBR, officers are judged only by other officers. LEOBR prevents the formation of civilian review boards that give civilians oversight over police actions.

Details

The LEOBR detailed by the Grand Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police as follows:
, the following U.S. states have enacted legislation to codify their own variations of a Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights:
In Rhode Island, police officers can be convicted of felonies in civilian criminal courts, and still keep their jobs after a hearing before panels of fellow police officers, according to Mike Riggs of Reason. The laws vary by states, but in most states, the officer gets a "cooling off" period before she or he has to respond to any questions. Unlike a member of the public, the officer under investigation is privy to the names of his complainants and their testimony against him before he is ever interrogated. The officer can only be questioned by one person during his interrogation, and only "for reasonable periods," which "shall be timed to allow for such personal necessities and rest periods as are reasonably necessary." The officer under investigation cannot be "threatened with disciplinary action" at any point during his interrogation. If he is threatened with punishment, whatever he says following the threat cannot be used against her or him. The officer continues to receive full pay and benefits. A violation of any rights can result in dismissal of the charges against the officer.
In nearly every state, their departments cannot publicly acknowledge that the officer is under investigation, wrote Riggs. If the charges are dropped, the department may not publicly acknowledge that the investigation ever took place, or reveal the nature of the complaint.
The officer can only be questioned or investigated by sworn officers. This prohibits civilian review boards, or any review by anyone other than police officers. This results in other officers acting as judge and jury rather than a neutral third party.
Maryland's version of the LEOBR was brought up as a reason why a police officer caught fabricating evidence and framing people on video in 2018 remained on the force collecting a paycheck in 2020, two and a half years later. While the police officer, Richard Pinheiro Jr., was convicted of a crime and the prosecutor's office announced it would not call him in court due to credibility problems, police officials cited the LEOBR as a reason why Pinheiro could not be speedily fired.