March 13, 2025 - Introduced by Representatives Wichgers, Behnke, Donovan, Gundrum, Kreibich, Maxey and Murphy, cosponsored by Senators James, Bradley and Nass. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
AB136,1,4
1An Act to amend 946.70 (1) (a), (b), (c) and (d); to create 946.70 (1) (intro.) of 2the statutes; relating to: classification of the crime of impersonating law
3enforcement officers, fire fighters, and certain other emergency personnel and
4providing a penalty. Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, a person may not impersonate a peace officer, a fire fighter, an emergency services medical practitioner, or an emergency medical provider with the intent to mislead others into believing that the person is actually an officer, a fire fighter, or emergency personnel. Current law classifies the crime as a Class A misdemeanor. This bill changes the classification to a Class I felony.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
AB136,15Section 1. 946.70 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is created to read: AB136,2,2
1946.70 (1) (intro.) Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever does any of the 2following is guilty of a Class I felony: AB136,23Section 2. 946.70 (1) (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the statutes are amended to read: AB136,2,64946.70 (1) (a) Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever impersonates 5Impersonates a peace officer with intent to mislead others into believing that the 6person is actually a peace officer is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. AB136,2,97(b) Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever impersonates Impersonates a fire 8fighter with intent to mislead others into believing that the person is actually a fire 9fighter is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. AB136,2,1310(c) Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever impersonates Impersonates an 11emergency medical services practitioner, as defined in s. 256.01 (5), with intent to 12mislead others into believing that the person is actually an emergency medical 13services practitioner is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. AB136,2,1714(d) Except as provided in sub. (2), whoever impersonates Impersonates an 15emergency medical responder, as defined in s. 256.01 (4p), with intent to mislead 16others into believing that the person is actually an emergency medical responder is 17guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
