{"id":27832,"date":"2024-05-30T02:39:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T07:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27832"},"modified":"2024-05-30T02:39:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T07:39:51","slug":"new-louisiana-law-will-criminalize-approaching-police-under-certain-circumstances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27832","title":{"rendered":"New Louisiana law will criminalize approaching police under certain circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BATON ROUGE, La. — Critics of a new Louisiana<\/a> law, which makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of a police officer under certain circumstances, fear that the measure could hinder the public\u2019s ability to film officers \u2014 a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the law, anyone who is convicted of \u201cknowingly or intentionally\u201d approaching an officer, who is \u201clawfully engaged in the execution of his official duties,\u201d and after being ordered to \u201cstop approaching or retreat\u201d faces up to a $500 fine, up to 60 days in jail or both. The law was signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, Tuesday and goes into effect Aug. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the legislation’s language does not specifically mention filming, critics say that by default it would limit how close a person can be to observe police. Opponents have also gone further to question the law’s constitutionality, saying it could impede on a person’s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proponents argue the new law will create a buffer-zone to help ensure the safety of officers and that bystanders would still be close enough to film police interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bystander cellphone videos are largely credited with revealing police misconduct \u2014 such as with the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers \u2014 and reshaping the conversation around police transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An attempt to establish a specific range at which onlookers can record officers actively engaged in law enforcement duties has occurred elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, lawmakers in Arizona passed a law that would have made it illegal to knowingly film police officers 8 feet (2.5 meters) or closer if the officer tells the person to stop. A coalition of media groups and the American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued to block Arizona’s law, with a federal judge ruling it unconstitutional, citing infringement against a clearly established right to film police doing their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In similar cases, half of the U.S. appeals courts across the nation have ruled on the side of allowing people to record police without restriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Louisiana measure’s author, state Rep. Bryan Fontenot, said the legislation was drafted to provide officers \u201cpeace of mind and safe distance to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt 25 feet, that person can\u2019t spit in my face when I\u2019m making an arrest,\u201d Fontenot said while presenting his bill in a committee earlier this year. \u201cThe chances of him hitting me in the back of the head with a beer bottle at 25 feet \u2014 it sure is a lot more difficult than if he\u2019s sitting right here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nearly identical bill was vetoed last year by then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. Edwards called the measure \u201cunnecessary\u201d and said it could be used \u201cto chill exercise of First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach of us has a constitutional right to freely observe public servants as they function in public and within the course and scope of their official duties,\u201d Edwards, who served in the U.S. Army and was the son of a sheriff, said in last year\u2019s veto message. \u201cObservations of law enforcement, whether by witnesses to an incident with officers, individuals interacting with officers, or members of the press, are invaluable in promoting transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with a new conservative governor in office and the GOP continuing to hold a supermajority in the Louisiana Legislature, the bill had a clear path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language in the measure appears to put in some safety nets, stating that an acceptable \u201cdefense to this crime\u201d includes establishing that the \u201clawful order or command was neither received nor understood by the defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BATON ROUGE, La. — Critics of a new Louisiana law, which makes it a crime to approach within 25 feet (7.6 meters) of a police officer under certain circumstances, fear that the measure could hinder the public\u2019s ability to film officers \u2014 a tool that has increasingly been used to hold police accountable. Under the law, anyone who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1170,1237,1900],"class_list":["post-27832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-new","tag-police","tag-under"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27834,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions\/27834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}