II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 167
To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish criminal offenses targeting
law enforcement officers, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY21, 2025
Mr. T
ILLISintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to punish criminal
offenses targeting law enforcement officers, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect and Serve Act 4
of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. CRIMES TARGETING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI-6
CERS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 18, United 8
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
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‘‘§ 120. Crimes targeting law enforcement officers 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Whoever, in any circumstance 2
described in subsection (b), knowingly assaults a law en-3
forcement officer causing serious bodily injury, or at-4
tempts to do so— 5
‘‘(1) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 6
years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; 7
and 8
‘‘(2) shall be imprisoned for any term of years 9
or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or 10
both, if— 11
‘‘(A) death results from the offense; or 12
‘‘(B) the offense includes kidnapping or an 13
attempt to kidnap, or an attempt to kill. 14
‘‘(b) C
IRCUMSTANCESDESCRIBED.—For purposes of 15
subsection (a), the circumstances described in this sub-16
section are that— 17
‘‘(1) the conduct described in subsection (a) oc-18
curs during the course of, or as the result of, the 19
travel of the defendant or the victim— 20
‘‘(A) across a State line or national border; 21
or 22
‘‘(B) using a channel, facility, or instru-23
mentality of interstate or foreign commerce; 24
‘‘(2) the defendant uses a channel, facility, or 25
instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in 26
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connection with the conduct described in subsection 1
(a); 2
‘‘(3) in connection with the conduct described in 3
subsection (a), the defendant employs a firearm, 4
dangerous weapon, explosive or incendiary device, or 5
other weapon that has traveled in interstate or for-6
eign commerce; 7
‘‘(4) the conduct described in subsection (a)— 8
‘‘(A) interferes with commercial or other 9
economic activity in which the victim is engaged 10
at the time of the conduct; or 11
‘‘(B) otherwise affects interstate or foreign 12
commerce; or 13
‘‘(5) the victim is a Federal law enforcement of-14
ficer. 15
‘‘(c) C
ERTIFICATIONREQUIREMENT.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—No prosecution of any of-17
fense described in this section may be undertaken by 18
the United States, except under the certification in 19
writing of the Attorney General, or a designee, 20
that— 21
‘‘(A) the State does not have jurisdiction; 22
‘‘(B) the State has requested that the Fed-23
eral Government assume jurisdiction; 24
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‘‘(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pur-1
suant to State charges left demonstratively 2
unvindicated the Federal interest in protecting 3
the public safety; or 4
‘‘(D) a prosecution by the United States is 5
in the public interest and necessary to secure 6
substantial justice. 7
‘‘(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 8
this subsection shall be construed to limit the au-9
thority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, 10
to investigate possible violations of this section. 11
‘‘(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
‘‘(1) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER .—The term 13
‘law enforcement officer’ means an employee of a 14
governmental or public agency who is authorized by 15
law— 16
‘‘(A) to engage in or supervise the preven-17
tion, detection, or the investigation of any 18
criminal violation of law; or 19
‘‘(B) to engage in or supervise the deten-20
tion or the incarceration of any person for any 21
criminal violation of law. 22
‘‘(2) S
TATE.—The term ‘State’ means a State 23
of the United States, the District of Columbia, or 24
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any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 1
United States.’’. 2
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3
for chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘120. Crimes targeting law enforcement officers.’’.
Æ
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