Louisiana’s new law will punish approaching police under certain circumstances

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Critics of a new Louisiana law that makes it against the law to return inside 25 feet of a police officer under certain circumstances fear the measure could make it harder for the general public to film officers — a tool increasingly used to carry the police accountable.

Under the law, anyone convicted of “knowingly or willfully” approaching an officer who’s “lawfully performing his official duties” and after being ordered to “keep approaching or withdraw” could face a superb of as much as $500 to $60 days in jail or each. The bill was signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday and goes into effect August 1.

While the language within the laws doesn’t specifically mention filming, critics say it could, by default, limit how far an individual can observe police. Opponents also went further to query the constitutionality of the bill, saying it could make it harder for residents to exercise their First Amendment rights.

Supporters say the new law will create a buffer zone that will help keep officers secure and bystanders will still be close enough to film police interactions.

Video footage taken by outsiders has been largely credited with exposing police misconduct – similar to the 2020 killing of George Floyd by the hands of officers in Minneapolis – and reshaping the conversation about police transparency.

An attempt to determine a particular scope for observers to record officers actively engaged within the performance of law enforcement duties has occurred elsewhere.

In 2022, Arizona lawmakers passed a law that may make it illegal to knowingly film a police officer inside 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 the Arizona law, and a federal judge found it unconstitutional, citing a violation of the expressly established right to film police doing their jobs.

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In similar cases, half of U.S. appeals courts across the country have favored allowing police recordings without restrictions.

Louisiana’s writer of the measure, state Republican Bryan Fontenot, said the laws was designed to offer officers “peace of mind and a safe distance while doing their job.”

“From 25 feet away, this person can’t spit in my face when I’m making an arrest,” Fontenot said when introducing the bill in committee earlier this 12 months. “The odds of him hitting me in the back of the head with a beer bottle from 25 feet away are certainly a lot greater than if he were sitting here.”

An almost an identical bill was vetoed last 12 months by then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, Democrat. Edwards called the measure “unnecessary” and said it may very well be used “to weaken the exercise of First Amendment rights.”

“Each of us has a constitutional right to freely observe public officials as they function in society and in the course and scope of their official duties,” Edwards, who served within the U.S. Army and was the son of a sheriff, said in last 12 months’s veto message report. “Law enforcement observations, whether by witnesses to the incident with officers, those in contact with officers, or members of the press, are invaluable in promoting transparency.”

However, with a new conservative governor taking office and the GOP maintaining a majority within the Louisiana Legislature, the trail forward for the bill was clear.

The language in that statute appears to determine some safeguards by stating that a suitable “defense to this offense” features a finding that “a lawful order or direction was not received or understood by the defendant.”