WA Legislature to Take Up Proposed ‘Ban’ on Law Enforcement-Themed ‘Impersonations?’

There will be, even in this 'short'  off-season session of the legislature, hundreds, if not close to 1,000 pieces of legislation that will be introduced.  Some are more eye-catching than others.

   Gov. Ferguson wants a bill criminalizing "false identification" of a peace officer

House Bill 2165, introduced by Democrats (and its Senate companion) would make it a gross misdemeanor (the strongest non-felony crime) to falsely pass one's self off as a member of law enforcement.

According to the information release from the Governor's Office:

"this bill prohibits individuals who are not law enforcement officers from making, providing or possessing badges or other law enforcement insignias. Violation would be a gross misdemeanor, in line with the existing law regulating criminal impersonation. This would help limit the sale, purchase and possession of items with law enforcement insignias on them, with an exception for items used in works of art, commentary, satire, and parody. This bill aims to ensure legitimate law enforcement officers are clearly identifiable, increasing safety and accountability."

Does this refer to those caps or other items you can find online that have 'ICE' or CBP on them?  I have not been aware of rampant issues with people passing themselves off as peace officers.  We've had a couple over the last few years who drove around with lights and badges and tried to pull people over.  That happened in SE WA once over the last year.

But once you look at the bill itself, it gets 'interesting.'

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Now, in the bill synopsis from the WA state legislative site, there is one of the conditions that caught our eye.

In the section titled Impersonation of Law Enforcement, these are listed as criteria for 1st degree criminal impression:

"assumes a false identity and does an act in his or her assumed character with intent to defraud another or for any other unlawful purpose; or

• pretends to be a representative of some person or organization or a public servant and does an act in his or her pretended capacity with intent to defraud another or for any other unlawful purpose."

The following are criteria for 2nd degree criminal impression:

"claims to be a law enforcement officer or creates an impression that he or she is a law enforcement officer; and

• does an act with intent to convey the impression that he or she is acting in an official capacity and a reasonable person would believe the person is a law enforcement officer, under circumstances not amounting to Criminal Impersonation in the first degree."  (bold added for emphasis).

It appears, aside from being confusing, that the last two could potentially apply to ICE or CBP Officers who are conducting operations in an area of WA state?  Is this intended to muddy the waters? Is this an attempt by the state to 'flex' its muscles-despite not having authority over Federal Officers? Notice the last two criteria omit the word 'pretends' and 'assuming false identity.'

The bill was pre-filed in December, but just now being publicized.  It will be interesting to see what comes of it this session.