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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 19, 2017 04:27 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Scott Martin and Sen. Ryan P. Aument |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Improving Response Times for Special Emergency Response Teams |
| In the near future, we plan to re-introduce legislation that would allow police officers who serve on a Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) the opportunity to improve response time to a SERT incident when they are off duty, much like our firefighters do now. Members of Lancaster County’s SERT are highly trained law enforcement officers that volunteer their time to assist in hostage negotiations, kidnappings, and barricaded gunmen. Despite their law enforcement status and training, it can take between 45 minutes to an hour for members of the team to assemble. This is largely because they are unable to utilize flashing lights or sirens when using their private vehicles to respond to incidents that greatly threaten public safety, adding critical minutes to their response time. As we all know from the recent tragedy in Las Vegas, every minute saved can mean a life saved. This legislation will be similar to Senate Bill 1233, which passed the Senate unanimously in June 2016. Co-sponsors included Senators Bartolotta, Costa, Eichelberger, Hughes, Rafferty, Schwank, Stefano, Teplitz, Vulakovich and Yudichak. We hope you will consider joining us in support of this legislation. |
Introduced as SB1015