Proposed bill aims to give law enforcement ability to withhold information

JACKSON, Tenn. — A proposed bill aims to give law enforcement agencies the privilege to withhold information from the public during active investigations.

This would be called law enforcement investigatory privilege.

Sponsored by Representative Johnny Garrett and Senator Kerry Roberts, this bill also prohibits a subpoena from being used to compel the disclosure of information that’s protected by the law enforcement investigatory privilege.

“What the sponsor of the bill is doing, he’s changing the law, and all I can tell you is that it will affect anyone that is in the system. If a person is already in the system,. They can’t be subpoenaed again, if this law goes into effect,” said Johnny Shaw, representative for District 80.

The house bill has been assigned to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee who has delayed further action until March 19.

View the proposed bill here.

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