_________ Bill No. _______

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act revising the offense of harming a police dog; revising the definition of "police dog"; and amending section

45-8-209, MCA."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

Section 1.  Section 45-8-209, MCA, is amended to read:

"45-8-209.   Harming a police dog -- penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of harming a police dog if he the person purposely or knowingly shoots, kills, or otherwise injures a police dog being used by a law enforcement officer in discharging or attempting to discharge any legal duty in a reasonable and proper manner.

(2)  A person convicted of the offense of harming a police dog may be fined an amount not to exceed $5,000 or be imprisoned in the state prison for a term not to exceed 1 year, or both.

(3)  As used in this section, the following definitions apply:

(a)  "Law enforcement officer" means a person who is a peace officer as defined in 46-1-202.

(b)  "Police dog" means a dog that is:

(i)  used by a law enforcement criminal justice agency, as defined in 7-32-201 44-5-103, in the exercise of its authority;

(ii) specifically trained for law enforcement work, including but not limited to detection by scent of a bomb, explosive, narcotic, accelerant, or missing or escaped person; and

(iii) owned, possessed, or under the control or supervision of a law enforcement officer or an authorized representative of a criminal justice agency."

-END-