Dear COBA Members/Retirees;

We are very happy to report that the Albany Legislative session for 2021 has just come to an end and thanks to the efforts of our members, numerous Law Enforcement Unions, Coalitions and the communities we serve who support Law Enforcement, legislation that we vehemently opposed did not pass.

Among the defeated bills were the following:‍

Directly related to our profession..............

1.) The criminalization of proper force used by Officers as related to

Art. 35 of the Penal Law and proposed under Senate Bill S6615;

2.) Legislation that would have removed "Qualified Immunity"

Protections for Law Enforcement Officers in New York State.

This Bill would have effectively left LEO's in NYS without Civil

Liability protections for the split second decisions we all have to

make, and would have led to injuries and deaths for LEO's if

they had to second guess themselves before taking action in

all manner of situations.

3.) Legislation mandating that murderers, rapists, and cop-killers be

eligible for parole when they reach 55 years of age;

In matters related to Law Enforcement in general:

4.) Legislation that would have allowed for the destruction of DNA

databases used in solving crimes;

5.) Legislation that would have prohibited Law Enforcement from

using facial recognition to solve crimes;

Thank you to all COBA Members who participated in the process after the release of our Video presentation related to Senate Bill S6615, by voicing your/our displeasure and helping to defeat this Bill as well as the entire horrible slate of proposals.

For those of you who did not take the time to join the voices against these proposals, I hope that you all can see clearly that we have to work together and united to get things done, particularly with all the current anti law enforcement sentiment going on.

In unity, with your continued effort and support, we will keep Correction Officers and all of us in Law Enforcement safe.

COBA will always fight for the rights of our members and continue to lead the charge when defending our profession.

Brian Sullivan, COBA President