A lawsuit filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on Tuesday challenges a new state law that prohibits citizens from being within 25 feet of law enforcement officers.
The law, which went into effect on July 1, is called a violation of constitutional rights by the ACLU, which claims that citizens have a right to “observe and record the police.”
It’s really bad, but not quite as bad as that - the article lies about what the bill does. This bill would make it a crime for a person to come within a certain distance of a police officer performing duties if the person is told by the officer to stop moving or to move away.
More explicitly:
Provides that a person who knowingly or intentionally approaches within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer after the law enforcement officer has ordered the person to stop commits a Class C misdemeanor.
So they absolutely can arrest you for being in their presence; the minor caveat is that you have to be ordered to stop first, so you have some warning. What a fucked up bill.
The asshats by name (see iga link above, this is public information):
Authors:
Representative Wendy McNamara Republican, District 76
Representative Michael Karickhoff Republican, District 30
Representative Jim Pressel Republican, District 20
Representative Steve Bartels Republican, District 74
Sponsors:
Senator Aaron Freeman Republican, District 32
Senator Jack Sandlin Republican, District 36
Senator Mark Messmer Republican, District 48
Senator Linda Rogers Republican, District 11
Wow a lot of fucking Republicans who want to give cops full authority over the populalist. Wonder why? Must be worried about upheaval because they making the place a shit hole to live in?
In practice, there won’t be warnings. They’ll say, out of the blue, “I told you to move away,” and then arrest everyone in the vicinity.
Also, how does this bill treat cops approaching you? For example, even if the cops do give warning, what if they continuously walk towards the person warned? I think this law is ripe for abuse by cops, who famously love to abuse.