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Assault against a security
officer
By Jeff Moore
ASSIST State Board Treasurer It has been my pleasure to serve as the chairperson of the Assault Against a Security Officer Committee for ASSIST. Although we have had a few assaults on our officers this year, overall, they are down from last year. Maybe it is getting known that you don�t mess with Texas security. Unfortunately, however, there have been a few on-duty deaths this year. In this article I would like to again address the assault law, due to some minor confusion that is still out there. Hopefully, this will better explain the law that was passed for assault on a security officer.
The Assault Against ASecurity Officer Law, Texas Penal Code 22.01b (1)(3), was passed in 2003 and made it a third-degree felony to assault a security officer while in uniform, on duty and causing bodily injury. Prior to this it would have been a Class A misdemeanor. This new law made assault against a security officer the same as assault against a peace officer while on duty. Looking at the two professions, this law only makes sense. A security officer�s life and safety is worth the same as a police officer�s, no more and no less.
We all owe our �Champions of Security� and lifetime members of ASSIST Sen. Mike Jackson and State Rep. Pat Hagerty, a very big thank you for being instrumental in getting this law as well as others passed.
There is still some misunderstanding over this new law, and most of it is on our part. Of the people who contact me now, most are security officers or company owners who are questioning why the third-degree felony did not get charged when their security officers got shoved or pushed. There must be bodily injury for the third-degree felony to be charged. Some examples of bodily injury that would fall under this law are red marks around the neck, bruises, lacerations, open wounds and broken bones. These types of injuries constitute bodily injury and would justify that third-degree charges be filed and most likely accepted by the DA�s office. We must also keep in mind that the reporting police officer must articulate the story correctly and accurately to the DA. There have been cases where this was not done correctly and the DA refused charges. Recently, however, there was a case where a security officer on his way home from work was assaulted and the DA took the charges because the officer was still in uniform. That the DA would extend this law to protect us to and from work is great news for our profession.
For the most part, a growing number of officers and company owners are telling me that the proper charges are being filed and that is a great improvement from where we were a few years ago. We must always be willing to fight for our officers� rights when the time comes, and that is when you should call us.
It is up to every company owner, manager and supervisor to make sure that if your security officer is assaulted you do everything in your power to make sure your officer�s rights are protected and the criminal is prosecuted. Again, 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
[email protected] or call me at (281) 332-1622. Until next time, be careful and stay safe.
Jeff Moore- state chairperson-�Assault Against A Security Officer,� state board treasurer-ASSIST; chairperson- LEAPS Houston, TX; executive vice president-ASSIST Gulf Coast Region; Blue Moon Investigations Security and Protection.
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