Senate Bill S3549

                                BILL NUMBER:S3549

TITLE  OF BILL:  An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation
to authorizing peace officers designated to investigate insurance frauds
to execute arrest warrants and search warrants

PURPOSE: To facilitate the investigation and  prosecution  of  insurance
fraud  in New York State by authorizing insurance fraud investigators to
execute arrest warrants and search warrants.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill amends sections 2.20  of  the  criminal
procedure  law to authorize investigators of the insurance frauds bureau
of the new department of  financial  services  to  request  and  execute
arrest and search warrants.

JUSTIFICATION:  Auto  insurance  premiums are rising, particularly down-
state, and insurance fraud  is  a  principal  cause  of  the  increases.
Insurance  fraud - auto, medical and property - costs New York consumers
over S1 billion per year in increased premiums and it continues to grow.
The state has an obligation to  ensure  that  criminals  profiting  from
insurance  fraud are brought to justice; and this bill will further this
goal by ensuring that insurance fraud investigators of the DFS are  able
to  fight  insurance  fraud without being hindered because they lack the
authority to independently execute search and arrest warrants.

The mission of the frauds bureau of the DFS is  to  investigate  allega-
              

tions  of  insurance  fraud  and assist in the prosecution of offenders.
Penalties for insurance fraud range from a  class  A  misdemeanor  to  a
class  B  felony. In addition to enforcing penal law provisions relating
to insurance fraud, investigators regularly identify other violations of
laws perpetrated by persons under  investigation  Most  insurance  fraud
investigators  are  former police officers with significant law enforce-
ment investigative experience.    Despite  these  qualifications,  under
current  law, fraud investigators as peace officers are unable to arrest
felons for whom they have obtained warrants, losing time and  effective-
ness  by relying on municipal police or sheriffs' departments to provide
available officers to execute warrants.

Under current law, insurance fraud bureau investigators  are  designated
as  peace  officers and are unable to act independently in the execution
of search  and  arrest  warrants  Rather,  investigators  are  currently
required  to  coordinate  with other law enforcement agencies to execute
these functions, resulting in delays  and  hindering  their  ability  to
apprehend individuals committing insurance fraud Insurance fraud may not
be  a  priority  of  local  police departments who may already be under-
staffed, which may result in delays  and  deter  the  investigation  and
prosecution of insurance fraud. This bill would give fraud investigators
the  authority  to  independently  execute  search  and arrest warrants,
thereby facilitating their apprehension of criminals engaging in  insur-
ance fraud.

LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY:  S.2377-B of 2011-12; S.3054 of 2009-10; S.2453 of
2007-08

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to the state

EFFECTIVE DATE: 90 days after becoming a law