Legislation making it easier to prosecute Arizona law-enforcement officers accused of committing sexual assault was unanimously approved this morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill makes it a Class 6 felony for an officer to sexually violate an adult in his or her custody.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office is pushing the measure after a jury refused to convict an officer under the state’s current sexual assault laws.
Deputy County Attorney Kathleen Mayer with the Pima County Attorney’s Office said those laws do not apply to law enforcement.
"It doesn’t include, in fact, that kind of coercion that a police officer presents to someone in his or her custody,” Mayer said,
Mayer said the legislation is needed because offenders are escaping justice simply because they wear a badge.