Ch. 10                                     1995 LAWS OF MARYLAND

CHAPTER 10
(House Bill 140)

AN ACT concerning

Domestic Violence

FOR the purpose of altering the circumstances under which a police officer may arrest
certain persons without a warrant; requiring a police officer who has probable cause
to believe that mutual abuse has occurred and who makes a warrantless arrest to
arrest the person the officer believes to be the primary physical aggressor; setting
forth certain factors a certain factor an officer is required to consider in
determining whether a person is a primary physical aggressor when considering
whether arrest is necessary under certain circumstances; requiring a law
enforcement officer responding to a report of an incident of domestic violence to
interview the victim and prepare a complete offense report; authorizing certain
civilian employees to prepare certain offense reports under certain circumstances;
requiring law enforcement agencies to make and maintain certain records relating
to domestic violence; requiring the record to be made identifiable by a certain code
and reported to the Department of State Police; requiring the Department of State
Police to receive, accept, and incorporate civil protective orders in the Maryland
Interagency Law Enforcement System; requiring the Department of State Police to
cooperate with certain persons for certain purposes; authorizing judges and law
enforcement agencies and officers to access the system for a certain purpose certain
purposes; establishing certain responsibilities of the clerks of the courts and local
law enforcement agencies; specifying that a confidential communication between
spouses during their marriage may be disclosed if the confidential communication
occurs during the commission of a crime or pertains to a crime committed by one
spouse against the other; altering the circumstances under which the spouse of a
person on trial for a crime may be compelled to testify; prohibiting a petitioner in a
proceeding to seek relief from abuse from being required to pay certain filing fees
or costs; prohibiting a court from granting a mutual protective order under certain
circumstances; altering certain penalties a certain penalty for violation of certain
provisions of a protective order certain civil protection orders; requiring an officer
to arrest certain persons if there is probable cause to believe a person is in violation
of certain court orders; requiring one half of certain fines to be paid to the
Comptroller of the Treasury and deposited in a certain fund; establishing the
Victims of Domestic Violence Fund; specifying the purpose of the Fund; providing
for the administration, investment, and auditing of the Fund; providing for
expenditures and disbursement from the Fund; requiring the Department of Human
Resources to make grants from the Fund; defining certain terms a certain term; and
generally relating to domestic violence.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article 27 - Crimes and Punishments
Section 594B(d)
Annotated Code of Maryland

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