Springfield police chief pans Burlison's self-defense bill, labels it 'Make Murder Legal Act'

In his monthly update to Springfield's city council, Springfield police chief Paul Williams panned a state legislative proposal expanding the right to self-defense — joining other law enforcement officers in the state who have dubbed it the "Make Murder Legal Act."

If passed, the bill would require self-defense to be presumed in cases of deadly force unless proven otherwise. Right now, the burden is on the person who used deadly force to prove they acted in self-defense.

The legislation was proposed by southwest Missouri state Senator Eric Burlison, who is running in the 7th Congressional District Republican primary. In defense of his bill, Burlison said it would prevent frivolous charges from "overzealous prosecutors."

But when introduced last week, the bill drew condemnation from the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and law enforcement agencies — who said it would make prosecuting any assault more difficult.

"The (bill) is phrased as self defense but what it essentially means is if you shot and killed someone, and you said I did it because it was self-defense... then it would be presumptive," Williams said. "It would require law enforcement to not make an arrest and prosecutors to jump through more hoops and have more hearings to try to disprove that theory."

More: Missouri bill expanding deadly force use panned by law enforcement, supported by McCloskey

Williams added the bill was an "absolutely horrible piece of legislation" and he hopes "it doesn't go anywhere at the state level."

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson, who serves as president of the state association, sent a letter to Burlison on Jan. 30 calling the bill "pro-violent criminal" and asking him to withdraw it.

"This bill would cause significant delays in cases involving violent criminals, giving defense attorneys multiple opportunities to cross examine and harass victims of crimes and will ultimately result in many victims tiring of the process and becoming uncooperative," Patterson wrote. "Victims have rights too."

Williams and Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott were also copied on Patterson's letter and agreed with his sentiment, according to the letter.

Steve Helms, Burlison's chief of staff, said his office had contacted Patterson last week about the letter but had not heard back. He said the letter "appears to have several factual errors in it and we wanted some clarification from them."

He said the bill used an existing Florida law as a blueprint, and that "if the extreme predictions that have been made against this bill were accurate, we would be seeing those results in states that have already passed similar legislation."

"SB 666 will protect law abiding citizens from rogue prosecutors who have an agenda against the Second Amendment," Helms said.

Burlison also sponsored the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which passed last year and also received backlash from law enforcement. The law attempts to nullify certain federal gun statutes and is currently facing legal challenges.

Police department staff shortages

Speaking to council, Williams also offered an update on the police department's ongoing staff shortages. While 26 are currently training in their police academy, there continues to be 41 officer vacancies in SPD.

The struggle to recruit non-sworn staff is "equally difficult," according to Williams. Attempting to fill 15 vacancies in those departments, SPD interviewed 181 applicants in 2021 but was only able to hire two.

"We are looking at our hiring process right now," Williams said. "Looking at the different steps and why we're losing people throughout the process and hopefully change that direction moving forward in 2022."

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Williams praises police body cams

A year ago, SPD implemented a body-worn camera system for their officers. At the Monday meeting, Williams called the body-cams a "huge success" in "trust, transparency and accountability."

"Every study I've seen on body-worn camera programs always talks about decreasing numbers of complaints and also a decrease in use of force. It's both because officers are wearing it and that people know they're being filmed," he said. "People tend to behave better on both sides of that equation, and also it may not result in a use of force because it's being filmed."

According to Williams, there were nine cases in 2021 where the cameras were "essential in the investigative process," with one of those cases leading to a "sustained allegation" against an officer.

The year also saw 21 cases where a complaint was withdrawn by the complainant or declared unfounded after informing the complainant of the body-cam footage.

The only downside to the program Williams cited was the overabundance of data recorded by the cameras, which can be difficult to process with their staff shortage.

"Body-worn cameras are showing officers doing the right thing. But if somebody does something wrong, we have an additional piece of evidence to substantiate that," he said.

Later during the meeting, council approved a new slate of residents to serve on the Police Civilian Review Board — the body tasked with deliberating on accusations of police misconduct when a complainant is unsatisfied with internal SPD investigations.

Council approved the following Springfield residents to serve on the board — filling it back up to its total of seven.

• Noel Elliot

• Dee Ogilvy

• Allen Grymes

• Marlon Graves

• Lori Muetzel

• Katie Bolt-Goeke

Citing the body-worn cameras, Williams said there has been a decrease in his department's use of force. In 2021, there were 293 incidents of an SPD officer using force, compared to 342 incidents in 2020.

"I absolutely think anecdotally (body-worn cameras) has had an impact on how officers and citizens are reacting with each other out in the field. So that is ultimately a good thing," he told city council.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield police chief criticizes Burlison's self-defense bill