News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Tennessee’s new Back The Blue Act makes it a felony to assault a law enforcement officer, a local state representative said it is about time.
State Representative Kelly Keisling sponsored the act as part of the 2024 legislative session. The bill increased the penalty from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony.
“We are sick and tired,” Keisling said. “It’s about time, It is just absolutely about time.”
The mandatory minimum of the new law went from a 30-day sentence and a $5,000 fine to 60 days and $10,000. Keisling said that the act is one of many that will protect law enforcement officers and reduce crime.
Keisling said the act part of several pieces of legislation that will hopefully hold criminals more accountable.
“We see so many times that these criminals when it becomes to bail and the bonding and all that stuff, they are just letting, the judges or judiciary just letting these folks just slide,” Keisling said.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation there were 1,603 assault on law enforcement cases last year. The law took effect July 1st.
