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Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) joined with fellow Representatives Claudia Tenney (NY-22), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), and Greg Steube (FL-17) to introduce the Local Law Enforcement Protection Act, which protects qualified immunity for police officers serving at the state and local levels across the country.

The legislation reaffirms the Supreme Court case, Saucier v. Katz, which held that a police officer is only liable if an individual's constitutional rights have been clearly violated. The Local Law Enforcement Protection Act would prevent state and local governments that remove qualified immunity protections for police from applying for certain federal grants.

“Our law enforcement officers protect our businesses, homes, and neighborhoods, at great personal risk to themselves and their families”, said Congressman Posey. “We should not deprive them of the same protections that we extend to other government employees. Rather, we should make sure our law enforcement officers continue to have the support they need to safely and successfully do their jobs and keep the peace.” 

Last July, Congressman Posey wrote to then-Attorney General Bill Barr urging the Justice Department consider disqualifying cities that defund their police department from receiving federal law enforcement grants. Posey said that if localities partake political stunts to defund their police departments, they should not be allowed to quietly plug those budget cuts on the back end with federal taxpayer dollars.