Iowa’s law enforcement community is asking lawmakers to establish a new penalty for making GENERAL threats directed at public places where people gather. Individuals currently may be charged with arson for making a bomb threat — and it is a crime in Iowa to threaten to terrorize or harass an intended victim — but Kelly Meyers, a lobbyist for the Iowa County Attorneys Association, says prosecutors are seeking a direct way to charge those who make general threats.
Cyndi Pederson, a lobbyist for the Iowa Fraternal Order of Police, is urging lawmakers to act.
The Iowa Association for Justice — the group representing trial lawyers — is registered in opposition to the bill.
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The bill will next be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
