A Florida Senate bill filed ahead of next week’s legislative session aims to enact harsher penalties for those who resist arrest or use force against law enforcement officers.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he’s feeling optimistic about the future of safety for law enforcement officers after reviewing Senate Bill 1092.

“This is pretty darn good," he said. "Everything in there from our perspective is common sense."

The bill is called the "Officer Jason Raynor Act," and is named after a Daytona Beach police officer who was shot during a confrontation outside an apartment in 2021.

The shooter, Othal Wallace, argued in court that he was defending himself when he shot Raynor, who died of his injuries 55 days later.

While he was originally charged with first-degree murder and could have faced the death penalty, he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Chitwood said he was concerned about the message the verdict might send to other criminals.

"The jury didn’t hear, or failed to listen to the fact that Othal Wallace in his diatribe on social media wanting to get pig’s blood, cops blood on his boots," he said, noting that he believed killing the officer was Wallace's intention because took Raynor's body camera after the shooting. 

This proposed legislation would make it a crime for someone to resist arrest, even if they believe the law enforcement officer's actions are illegal. Chitwood said he believed that was the best way to handle these types of encounters.

“That’s not the place for it — the courts are the place for it,” said Chitwood. “Civil rights is the place for it. That’s how you remedy these things. If you got stopped, you were racially profiled, to pull out a gun and open fire is not going to fix the problem.”

“You can not adjudicate a car stop — you can not adjudicate a stop by law enforcement or a ticket or anything on the side of the road,” he added. “That is what the courts are for."

Chitwood said he believes that incidents involving suspects resisting arrest that turn violent have become more common over the years. He said one of his deputies was grazed by a bullet just last month after someone accused of theft refused to get out of their car in Deltona.

He said he hopes this new bill, if passed, makes it clear that type of thing will not be tolerated.

“I think it sends a strong message to law enforcement, law-abiding citizens that hey we are not going to tolerate this," Chitwood said. "If you do it, you are going to spend the rest of your life in a six-by-six room."

The bill was filed on Dec. 27, and was referred to the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice on Jan. 4. If passed, the act would take effect on Oct. 1.