Which states have stiffer laws against umpires/officials being assulted?

[Umpire in Chief]

:tantrum: A friend of mine asked me this morning if in Virginia was it a felony to assault an official. He told me about when earlier this season his son had varsity game in the district my association doesn't cover. My friend felt the umpires were in danger from the losing teams fans. They harassed the umpires and followed them to their cars giving them s:censored:t. He mentioned he believed it was a felony in Connecticut where his older son played before they moved down here. I told him I have no idea.

What states do you know of which have stiffer laws or penalties for assaulting an official? I figure that since the site gets dozen if not hundreds of hits from each state every week and the fact that so many umpires are in law enforcement we could figure out which states have such laws.

The questions you get asked when you're known as an umpire... :ZZZ:

[LMSANS]

I believe there are 35 - 40 states with some sort of escalation if the assault is on a sports official. Referee magazine usually has a count a couple of times during the year. Unfortunately, my wife just had me discard all my previous isues as part of cleanup.:crybaby2:

[noumpere]

I'm sure that RefMag / NASO has this information. They publish a map of it every so often.

[Umpire in Chief]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction here is the link to NASO which gives details for individual states laws regarding assault of a sports official.

[willv28]

I see someone posted it. CT is well in line with this issue and should have a law in the not too distant future.

Article from 2008 about CT legislation.

http://www.ncsl.org/magazine/articles/2008/08SLJune08_Umpire.htm

I like this page for the overall country picture. It puts the information into chart form by state to see it easier.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0747.htm

[mstaylor]

Md currently doesn't have an escalated assault law but I am currently working on getting one passed. If any MD guys here are interested in getting signatures on a petition or more importantly has any knowledge of attacks in MD I could use the information. I already have friends in both houses of the legislature but I haven't put it before them yet.

[Wayne]

mstaylor, As we have not worked together yet, do these laws protect new guys from the vets if we screw up?

[mstaylor]

Only if we flogg you so bad you can't work the next game. :banghead: