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ACLU lawsuit contends new Indiana law prevents police officers from being held accountable (indianacapitalchronicle.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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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.”

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[–] 39 points 3 years ago (7 children)

Wait WTF how does that work..now these fuckers can arrest you for just being in their presences of a cop. Wow this is fucked up. Who come up with this law and before you answer it some asshat with R by their name.

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  • [–] [S] 27 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Who come up with this law and before you answer it some asshat with R by their name.

    A whole bunch of asshats with R by their names, aka the Indiana legislature, along with our esteemed coward governor, Holcomb.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    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

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago*

    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.

    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.

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    • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    i guess they havent heard of this neat "zooming" thing that cameras can do

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    “This recording is inadmissible, it was zoomed in so much it’s impossible to tell with any certainty what is going on.”

    Digital zoom is literally just cropping out the rest of the video. You’re not actually zooming in, you’re just losing context.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    there's optical zoom too, though it's true that many cameras dont have that option

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    In a perfect world, sure. But in reality, the majority of devices do not have optical zoom. Most recordings of police are done on cellphones, and usually older And/or lower end models that aren’t using optical zoom.

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    • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    But how can they get away with killing black people if the populace are allowed to get close enough to record them? Think of the cops!

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    [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    I can see that going really well.
    "Step back! 25 feet!"
    "You're walking towards me. I'm just standing here.
    "I said Step Back!" Discharges Taser while continuing to close distance

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