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 Assault against a security
officer
By Jeff Moore
ASSIST STATE BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Serving as chairman of the Assault Against a Security Officer Committee for ASSIST has truly been a very rewarding experience for me. It has been very interesting talking to everyone and helping those who have needed my assistance. Based on the reports I’m receiving, we seem to be having fewer and fewer assaults against our security officers. This is good news for our brothers and sisters in the security field. Unfortunately, there is also sad news: security officer deaths seem to be on the rise for 2009. ASSIST was quick to action on this matter and helped get a new law passed for all our security officers. I am very excited about this new law that was passed this year and enacted Sept. 1. It is
House Bill 3147. It protects our officers who may have their weapons taken away from them while on duty or to and from work.
HB 3147 states that "taking or attempting to take a weapon from a peace officer, parole officer, corrections officer or
commissioned security officer is a third degree felony."
It goes on to read that “a person commits this offense if they intentionally or knowingly and with force takes or attempts to take from a security officer their firearm, nightstick, stun gun, chemical dispensing device with the intention of harming the officer or a third person.”
This is another big step for our profession. We, too, are now protected, just like a peace officer or correctional officer. It only makes sense that we must protect the security officers who are working day in and day out to help make our great state of Texas a safer place to live.
It is very tragic to think about, but most of the times when police officers or security officers are assaulted, shot and sometimes killed it is with their own weapons used by the attacker.
Let me take this time to personally thank the state legislators who were instrumental in getting this great bill passed. Many thanks go out to House Representative Todd Smith and House Representative Fletcher. If it were not for these great legislators doing their job to help us get this bill passed, we would not be protected today.
Other special thanks go out to our newly elected President Bob Burt, Keith Oakley and Walt Roberts for all their hard work, dedication and countless trips to Austin in helping to get this new law passed for our profession. When a few good men care enough about something, there is nothing that you can do to stop them and they showed us exactly that when this bill got passed.
It is up to every company owner, manager and supervisor to make sure if your security officer is assaulted, you do everything in your power to make sure that your officer’s rights are protected and the criminal goes to jail.
It has been my pleasure to serve on this committee and I look forward to continuing my service to all of our ASSIST members as well as our non-members. If you need to contact the “Assault Against a Security Officer Committee,” e-mail me at
Jeff@pibluemoon.com or call (281) 332-1622. Please send me your stories or questions so I can share them with our readers.
Be careful and stay safe, until we talk again.
Jeff Moore
ASSIST State Board Vice President
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