This Act does the following: (1) Makes clear that charter schools and private schools may employ a constable or employ or contract for a qualified retired law-enforcement officer to provide security. (2) Creates an exemption in the Safe School Zone law enacted in 2023, Chapter 175 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware (House Bill No. 201, 152nd General Assembly), for an individual authorized by a private school to serve a “sentry”, an individual authorized by the school to carry a firearm or projectile weapon in a Safe School Zone if certain training and notice requirements are complied with. Not every school is able to afford to hire a constable or a police officer who is a school resource officer. Therefore, the General Assembly finds that it is necessary to permit private schools in this State to employ or contract for individuals to serve as a sentry for these schools. The following states have also provided a similar exemption to their equivalent of the Safe School Zone law for a sentry: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act makes it a crime for any person to either cross a marked barrier established by a first responder, or, after receiving a warning not to approach from a first responder who is engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty, to violate the warning and approach or remain within 25 feet of the first responder, with the intent to do any of the following: (1) Impede or interfere with the first responder’s ability to perform the first responder’s legal duty. (2) Threaten the first responder with physical injury, serious physical injury, or death. For purposes of this Act, a first responder means a law-enforcement officer, volunteer or paid firefighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic, or fire police officer.
This Act requires every law enforcement agency in Delaware to adopt and publicly post a written policy requiring officers to display identification while performing enforcement duties. Identification must include the officer’s agency and a name, a badge number, or both. This Act also recognizes that there are circumstances where identification cannot or should not be displayed. It creates exceptions for: • Officers engaged in active undercover operations. • Officers wearing personal protective equipment (such as gas masks or respirators) that prevents identification from being visible. • Exigent circumstances, including imminent threats to people or property, an escape in progress, or the destruction of evidence. • Cases where there is a specific and articulable threat to the physical safety of the officer if identification is displayed. To ensure accountability, this Act makes failure to display identification a violation. Repeated violations may result in an unclassified misdemeanor, underscoring the seriousness of the requirement. This Act serves to empower Delaware law enforcement officers to intervene and verify the identity of any person claiming or otherwise acting as law enforcement but who fails to display clear identification, but nothing in this Act diminishes the discretion of law enforcement officers to determine whether it is appropriate to stop or charge any person. This Act also strikes a balance by giving the public confidence that law enforcement officers can be identified and held accountable while also preserving officer safety and operational effectiveness.
This Act prohibits law-enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings that obscure the identity of the individual wearing them in the course of their duties, with exceptions for undercover operations and exigent circumstances. This Act ensures that law enforcement officers in Delaware cannot wear masks or facial coverings that hide their identity when they are carrying out their official duties. Our community deserves to know who is enforcing the law, and clear identification is essential to building trust between residents and law enforcement. When law enforcement officers are acting in public and exercising authority, people should be able to see their faces. This improves accountability, strengthens public confidence, and makes Delaware safer for everyone. The bill defines “facial covering” to include items like balaclavas, ski masks, or tactical masks that obscure the face. It does not ban protective equipment such as medical masks, respirators, or breathing devices that officers need for health and safety, nor does it interfere with undercover operations that require anonymity. It also specifically exempts undercover operations that occur during the course of a criminal investigation or for SWAT teams that are specially trained police units used in high-risk situations that go beyond the capacity of regular patrol officers. This Act serves to empower Delaware law enforcement officers to intervene and verify the identity of any person claiming or otherwise acting as law enforcement while wearing a facial covering, but nothing in this Act diminishes the discretion of law enforcement officers to determine whether it is appropriate to stop or charge any person.
This Act, advocated by Eric Carpenter-Grantham and his mother Linda Carpenter-Grantham, promotes equitable treatment for individuals with nonapparent disabilities in interactions with law enforcement. Also referred to as "Eric's ID Law", this Act establishes the use of a butterfly symbol on state driver's licenses and identification cards to provide individuals with nonapparent disabilities to communicate their needs and circumstances. This Act requires the Division of Motor Vehicles to make available a notation on a driver’s license or identification card that indicates a person has a disability, including an intellectual or developmental disability. It also requires that police officer training include instruction on the notation and best practices for safe interactions during a traffic stop with a person with a nonapparent disability. Upon passage of the Act, the Division of Motor Vehicles is directed to consult with disability advocacy groups regarding the design of the notation and to conduct public outreach to make the availability of the notation known. The Act is effective immediately and to be implemented within 6 months of its enactment.
This Act requires the State to preserve all biological evidence in its custody that is secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a crime, for the period of time that the crime remains unsolved or the period of time that a person convicted of the crime remains in custody, regardless of whether the person pleaded guilty. “Biological evidence” in this context includes any item that "contains" some kind of biological material that was collected as part of a criminal investigation or may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate any person for an offense. The State may destroy evidence that is likely to contain biological evidence before the expiration of those time periods if all of the following are true: (1) more than 5 years have elapsed since the criminal conviction became final and all appeals are exhausted; (2) the evidence is not in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a Class A to Class E felony; (3) no other provision of federal or state law requires the State to preserve the evidence; (4) the State sends certified delivery of written notice of its intent to destroy the evidence to certain specified recipients, including any person who remains in custody as a result of the criminal conviction, delinquency adjudication, or commitment related to the evidence; and (5) no person who has received such notice, within 180 days of receiving the notice, files a motion for testing of evidence under § 4504 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code or submits a written request for retention of the evidence. In addition, the State is not required to preserve physical evidence that is of a size, bulk, or physical character that makes retention impracticable, but in that case, the State must remove and preserve portions of the evidence that is likely to contain biological evidence related to the offense. If the State is called upon to produce biological evidence that cannot be located and whose preservation was required under the Act, then the court must hold a hearing to determine whether the failure to produce evidence was the result of intentional and willful destruction. If so, the court then must order a postconviction hearing, at which the court will presume that the results of the postconviction DNA testing would have been exculpatory to the petitioner, and impose other appropriate sanctions and order appropriate remedies. If the court determines that the failure to produce evidence was the result of negligence or non-willful destruction, it may provide the appropriate recourse, including ordering a postconviction hearing; at the hearing, presume that the results of the postconviction DNA testing would have been exculpatory to the petitioner; and impose other appropriate sanctions and order appropriate remedies. In addition, the Act requires the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission and Division of Forensic Science to study, promulgate, and implement procedures that effectuate the legislative intent of the Act regarding the proper preservation of biological evidence. The Act takes effect 2 years after its enactment into law. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 214 in that it revises the definition of biological evidence to include evidence that is likely to contain biological material; requires the State to preserve evidence in a manner consistent with best practices at the time of collection, that prevents contamination, degradation, or reduction of any biological material contained on the evidence; provides that the State may not destroy evidence that is likely to include any biological evidence before the expiration of a certain time period or unless certain conditions are satisfied; and provides examples of remedies that the court may order if the court determines that a failure to produce evidence was the result of intentional and willful destruction or of negligence or non-willful destruction; and takes effect 2 years after enactment, rather than 30 days.
This Act codifies the Delaware State Police program that makes available a “blue envelope” for use by a person with a disability. The intent of this program is to increase safety for both officers and persons with a disability during a traffic stop. The envelope contains written information for officers regarding interacting with a person with a disability, as well as guidance for the person with a disability on safe interactions with law-enforcement during a traffic stop. The envelope is sized to be able to contain a driver’s license, motor vehicle registration card, and insurance identification card and other related documents.
This resolution considers the increasingly egregious tactics, including lethal use of force, being used by agents of the Department of Homeland Security.
This Act is being proposed in hopes of allowing for additional disbursements from a special fund created by the General Assembly to ensure adequate pensions for affected police officers and firefighters, and their surviving spouses. This raises the pension level an individual is permitted to receive and still be eligible for a distribution from the special fund from $35,000 or less to $55,000 or less. It also ensures that those eligible to receive a distribution from the special fund will be able to do so upon enactment, and not have to wait until the current date permitted under the Code.
This Act expands the composition of the Family Justice Center Council by removing a single member that previously represented the health care community including both mental health providers and sexual assault nurse examiners, and instead adding one member representing the mental health care provider community, one member representing the sexual assault nurse examiner community, and one member representing system-based police or prosecution victim service specialists.
