DeSantis Signs Bills To Create 25-Foot Halo Around Cops, Strip Oversight Boards Of Independence

Here come more bad laws, courtesy of the Florida legislature — a government body that hasn’t met a right it isn’t willing to violate to further its bigoted agenda.

These laws won’t necessarily violate rights right out of the gate, but the potential is definitely there. Here’s Douglas Sole of the Tallahassee Democrat (it’s a newspaper name, not a political allegiance) with the latest legislative bad news:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills Friday that he says will support law enforcement, but which critics warn will undermine the public’s ability to prevent police brutality and corruption.

“I don’t think there’s anyone that can match what we’ve done to protect the citizens of this state, but particularly to ensure that we respect and protect the men and women who wear the uniform,” DeSantis said at the bill signing event in St. Augustine, surrounded by uniformed officers and standing behind a lectern sign that said, “Supporting Law Enforcement.”

One bill (SB 184) creates a 25-foot “no-go” zone around first responders, including police. The other (HB 601) would limit what citizen police oversight boards can do, including investigating complaints of officer misconduct, and would require these panels to be re-established under county sheriffs and municipal police chiefs, who would appoint the members.

Ron, I don’t think anyone should “match” what you’ve done. And it’s certainly not being done to “protect the citizens” of Florida. The second half of that sentence is far more honest: these laws are meant to protect some of the most powerful people in Florida: law enforcement officers.

While SB 184 extends the halo of protection to first responders like firefighters and EMTs, the real purpose of the law is to give cops a reason to harass or arrest people who attempt to film them. Pushing them 25 feet back (a distance left to the discretion of the officer enforcing the new law) makes it harder to get a clear view of what’s happening.

And the lectern sign gives away the game: “Supporting Law Enforcement.” No first responders who aren’t cops have ever complained about the public interfering with their work or wasted valuable first response time telling people to stop recording. That’s something cops do almost exclusively. This isn’t about ensuring first responders are given space to do their jobs. It’s about adding another 20+ feet of distance between cops and accountability.

Here’s DeSantis’ excuse for this latest bit of bootlicking:

DeSantis said the legislation “recognizes we’ve got some strange currents going on in our society right now that really seek to delegitimize law enforcement,” accusing news media outlets of warping narratives about police for attention and “clicks” and citing media coverage of the recent controversial police killing of Dexter Reed in Chicago.

Ron, cops have done plenty themselves to “delegitimize law enforcement.” The only difference in recent years is that it’s a lot harder to control the narrative when everyone on the street is carrying around a camera of their own. That’s what this law aims to deter: citizen recordings. According to the vague wording of the law, filming cops could be considered an act “without legitimate purpose,” which would be enough to justify cops moving people recording police interactions far enough away they can’t fully document the incident.

An amendment to protect citizens’ right to record was rejected. So was Rep. Angela Nixon’s amendment, which simply asked the legislature to fully own the underlying conceit of this ridiculous legislation:

[N]ixon’s proposed amendment to change the name of the bill to “The I Don’t Want the World to See the Police Kill an Unarmed Innocent Man Like George Floyd Again, So I Want To Protect Bad Cops and Violate Free Speech Act” [also failed].

Creating even more separation from accountability is the second bill, which removes the word “independent” from “independent oversight” to allow police to police themselves, something they deliberately do poorly.

The twenty-one civilian oversight boards that currently exist in Florida will be altered starting January 1 of next year, stripping them of anyone local cops don’t approve of. This stripping of any pretense of accountability could not be more transparent, ironically.

All boards will be required to have from three to seven members, with one member being a retired law enforcement officer. (Keep in mind that a lot of officers choose to retire, rather than face internal investigations or other accusations of misconduct. So, there’s a good chance a lot of retired cops are also bad cops.)

Then it gets worse:

All members must be appointed by the sheriff or police chief over the area

Foxes and hen houses, inmates running asylums, or whatever your favorite idiom is. This law ensures no officers will ever face accountability from oversight boards by stocking them with cops and their friends. It’s the opposite of a kangaroo court — a place where exoneration is guaranteed.

None of this is surprising. DeSantis is an aspiring fascist and there’s little more conducive to fascism than law enforcement agencies being given permission to be a law unto themselves. Florida’s governor and far too many of its legislators have declared war on the Constitution. And all the while, they continue to pretend they’re the greatest Americans of all, even as they work in lockstep to create a nightmarish blend of bigotry and totalitarianism.