HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 239        FILED ON: 1/9/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1549

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Alice Hanlon Peisch

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act improving apprehension of drunk drivers and other law violators.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 239        FILED ON: 1/9/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1549

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2253 OF 2011-2012.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

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An Act improving apprehension of drunk drivers and other law violators.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 98A of Chapter 41 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2010 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following section:

Section 98A. A police officer of a city or town who is empowered to make arrests within a city or town and who is objectively recognizable as a police officer by means of a marked police vehicle, or being in uniform, or by conspicuously displaying his badge, or by activating an unmarked police vehicle's lights and/or siren, upon observing a motor vehicle infraction committed in his presence within his jurisdiction is authorized to stop said motor vehicle after fresh and continued pursuit in any city or town, and may take any appropriate legal action, including arrest, for any violations or criminal conduct observed prior to or during said stop, as would be authorized were he acting in his own territorial jurisdiction. 

In the event of an arrest pursuant to this paragraph, said officer may return the person arrested to said officer’s territorial jurisdiction, and shall make all reasonable efforts to promptly notify the department or departments having authority in the jurisdiction or jurisdictions in which the arrest was effected, provided, however, that failure to make this notification will in no way affect the validity of the motor vehicle stop or resulting action that flowed from the stop. Such arrest may be prosecuted in the jurisdiction where the pursuit began.