In a nation which has the highest percentage of its citizens imprisoned in the world, Louisiana is the state with the highest percentage of its citizens imprisoned in the country. This is the exact wrong direction.
I can’t imagine this is constitutional.
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Jeff Landry signed into law Tuesday, fear the measure could hinder the public’s ability to film officers, which has increasingly been used to hold police accountable — including in high profile cases, such as the killing of George Floyd.
“This is part of our continued pledge to address public safety in this state,” Landry, who has a law enforcement background, said during the bill signing.
Author of the legislation state Rep. Bryan Fontenot, like his fellow Republican lawmakers, said the new law provides officers “peace of mind and safe distance to do their job.”
“The twenty-five-foot buffer legislation fundamentally seeks to curtail Louisianians’ ability to hold police accountable for violence and misconduct,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said in a statement Tuesday.
“At 25 feet, that person can’t spit in my face when I’m making an arrest,” state Rep. Fontenot said while presenting his bill in a committee earlier this year.
Language in the measure appears to put in some safety nets, stating that an acceptable “defense to this crime” includes establishing that the “lawful order or command was neither received nor understood by the defendant.”
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