934.15 Situations in which law enforcement officer may order telephone line cut, rerouted, or diverted. - Florida Statutes

934.15 Situations in which law enforcement officer may order telephone line cut, rerouted, or diverted.

   (1) The supervising law enforcement officer at the scene of an incident where there is reasonable cause to believe:

   (a) That a person is holding one or more hostages,

   (b) That a person has barricaded herself or himself and taken a position of confinement to avoid apprehension,

   (c) That there is the probability that a subject about to be arrested will resist with the use of weapons, or

   (d) That a person has barricaded herself or himself and is armed and is threatening suicide,

may order law enforcement or telephone company personnel to cut, reroute, or divert telephone lines for the purpose of preventing telephone communications between the suspect and any person other than a law enforcement officer or the law enforcement officer’s designee, if such cutting, rerouting, or diverting of telephone lines is technically feasible and can be performed without endangering the lives of telephone company or other utility personnel.

   (2) The good faith reliance by a telephone company on an oral or written order to cut, reroute, or divert telephone lines given by a supervising law enforcement officer under subsection (1) constitutes a complete defense to any civil, criminal, or administrative action arising out of such an order.

History. ss. 1, 2, ch. 87-357; s. 1585, ch. 97-102.