WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The bill filed by a Texas House Member Jason Villalba, which outlaws filming law enforcement officers within 25 feet, will make it more difficult for victims of excessive police force to seek justice, experts told Sputnik.
“It [the bill] makes it more difficult to identify exactly what is happening in these incidents that we see repeatedly, with, for example, unarmed citizens who are being subjected to excessive police force or even being killed,” Center for Civil Rights Director Theodore Shaw said on Friday.
Shaw referred to the Wednesday incident involving University of Virginia African-American student Martese Johnson and two white police officers, who forced Johnson to the ground while striking his head on the pavement causing him to bleed profusely.
A video of the brutal encounter outside a local bar was posted online on Wednesday.
“If someone didn’t record it with a cell phone… we wouldn’t be able to get that picture,” Shaw noted.
“The media is granted an exception. If they can film the police and do it without interfering, I don’t know why citizens shouldn’t,” Shaw said.
International law firm Haynes and Boone attorney Alicia Calzada argued that the right to photograph the police on duty is firmly established in the US Constitution, and the bill infringes on that right by placing unreasonable restrictions.
“The act of photographing alone does not constitute interference,” Calzada said.
It is important to ensure the safety of police officers, but the motivation behind the legislation is questionable, Wake Forest University Criminal Justice Program Director Kami Chavis Simmons told Sputnik.
“It could have negative impact on police accountability,” Simmons said. “It seems to me that it could be an unnecessary piece of litigation that unnecessarily restricts the rights of citizens to capture public disturbances.”
The experts noted that the United States already has regulations in place that prevent bystanders from interfering with police carrying out their duties.
On March 12, Villalba said that his bill just asks individuals that film “to stand back a little” so as not to interfere with law enforcement.
Despite his explanation, the movement against the proposed legislation has gained a momentum on social media.
On March 13, Texas resident that oppose the bill created a Facebook page named Recall Jason Villalba, seeking to remove the lawmaker from office for being “unfit for duty,” and presenting “danger to freedom.” Within a week, the page gathered 4,115 likes.
