Last Wednesday, new measures were instated that prevents bystanders from recording within 8 feet of police activity, a law that is meant to protect citizens and keep them from interfering with police work.
The new law, which is to be implemented in September, has lead to protests over this threat to the transparency of police work by civil rights groups and media. Their criticism follows the recent rise of cellphone documentation of police work, recordings that proved to be invaluable. For instance, in the cases of George Floyd and Eric Garner documentation of the event contradicted the police’s inaccurate statements.
Mr. Kavanagh, who proposed the law, defended the newly added measure as a protection for the police. Allegedly, many law enforcement officers expressed concerns about hostile behavior towards the police.
Alan Chen, a law professor working at the University of Denver, believes that the measure is filled with vague wording and unanswered questions. For example, what if officers walked towards people recording from 8 feet away? Chen believes that the measures implemented are unconstitutional as in a statement he said, “[t]here’s certainly some First Amendment concerns here”.
Already, media organizations and civil rights groups have already sent formal complaints and criticism of the enacted law. The New York Times along with 20 other media groups have stated that the law violates their constitutional rights. In a twitter post from the ACLU of Arizona, they stated that the law would make police accountability of misconduct much harder.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/09/us/arizona-recording-police-8-feet.html
The new law, which is to be implemented in September, has lead to protests over this threat to the transparency of police work by civil rights groups and media. Their criticism follows the recent rise of cellphone documentation of police work, recordings that proved to be invaluable. For instance, in the cases of George Floyd and Eric Garner documentation of the event contradicted the police’s inaccurate statements.
Mr. Kavanagh, who proposed the law, defended the newly added measure as a protection for the police. Allegedly, many law enforcement officers expressed concerns about hostile behavior towards the police.
Alan Chen, a law professor working at the University of Denver, believes that the measure is filled with vague wording and unanswered questions. For example, what if officers walked towards people recording from 8 feet away? Chen believes that the measures implemented are unconstitutional as in a statement he said, “[t]here’s certainly some First Amendment concerns here”.
Already, media organizations and civil rights groups have already sent formal complaints and criticism of the enacted law. The New York Times along with 20 other media groups have stated that the law violates their constitutional rights. In a twitter post from the ACLU of Arizona, they stated that the law would make police accountability of misconduct much harder.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/09/us/arizona-recording-police-8-feet.html