The Michigan Senate could act on a bill to keep police officers' statements secret if officers are the subjects of internal investigations.

Introduced by Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, the bill would give police officers added protection by making statements given under duress inadmissible in court and not available to the public.

"The idea behind the legislation is to afford some constitutional protections to police officers," said Ari Adler, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming.

"There is a Fifth Amendment right most citizens have, but police officers face the situation where they can be put in a room and told they have to make a statement, even if it incriminates themselves."

The bill, which passed through the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday, also would remove some police statements from police documents that could be used against officers in court, Adler said. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for approval.

"A lot of this stems around internal investigations. If there is any kind of internal investigation, it's the specific statement from the officer that would not be available."

"It would not be available for release to the public or the media," Adler said.

Police department heads have the power to force their employees to give statements about criminal incidents they might have been involved with if necessary, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said.

"As an employer, if I am investigating the activity of my employee and I order him to talk, and require him to tell me what happened," he said, "I can threaten him with termination."

These statements can't be used in court because of a previous court ruling, Wibert said. The bill would essentially make that ruling a law, he added.

It would keep some incriminating police statements from reaching the hands of court officials and the public.

"What this is basically doing is saying the Fifth Amendment has precedence over my relationship as an employer," Wibert said. "When an officer is the subject of an internal investigation and there is some kind of assumption they committed a crime, I can force the officer to talk, but the statement can't be used in court against the officer."

Liz Kerr of the Michigan Senate Democratic Caucus said many Democrats are split on the issue because they want to support police officers while making sure they obey state and federal law.

"It's a member-to-member issue," she said.

The bill will likely come before the Senate in the next few weeks, Adler said.

"It's something we will be working on," he said. "There is a good chance it will pass."

It would then go to the House and Gov. Jennifer Granholm's desk for final approval.