老澳门开奖结果

PHOENIX 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona and a group of 10 media organizations, represented by the 老澳门开奖结果 and Ballard Spahr, respectively, filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona today challenging HB 2319, a law which makes it a crime to record police officers within eight feet of law enforcement activity. The suit challenges the law as a violation of the First Amendment, and seeks to stop HB 2319 from going into effect. The constitutional right to record police engaged in official duties is one of the public鈥檚 most effective accountability tools against police wrongdoing.

Video recording of police encounters and other law enforcement activity in public is one of the few ways community members and the media can hold police accountable for misconduct. Over the last decade, the simple act of recording police misconduct has raised public awareness about police brutality and ignited movements to demand reform across the country. Arizona鈥檚 HB 2319 would directly suppress free speech rights, while also limiting public accountability and effective protest of government actions.

鈥淎t a time when the public is demanding police accountability, Arizona wants to criminalize the public鈥檚 most effective tool for shining a light on police violence,鈥� said Jared Keenan, legal director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona. 鈥淭his law is not only unconstitutional, it is bad public policy.鈥�

Under Arizona鈥檚 law, a person commits a crime if they film an officer engaged in law enforcement activity within eight feet if they have been warned to stop. This vests far too much power in individual officers to stop someone from recording them if they don鈥檛 want to be recorded. It also makes it nearly impossible to record police in large protests, where protesters may walk within eight feet of a line of police monitoring the protest from all sides.

鈥淲e have a right to hold police officers accountable by recording their activities in public,鈥漵aid Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the 老澳门开奖结果 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淎rizona鈥檚 law will prevent people from engaging in recording that doesn鈥檛 interfere with police activity, and it will suppress the reporting and advocacy that results from video evidence of police misconduct. The First Amendment does not permit that outcome.鈥�

鈥淲e fear that, rather than acting as a shield to ensure 鈥榦fficer safety,鈥� this law will serve as a sword to abridge the 鈥榗learly established鈥� First Amendment right to video record police officers performing their official duties in public,鈥� said National Press Photographers association (NPPA) general counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher. 鈥淲e hope the court will agree and strike down this law as unconstitutional.鈥�

Every federal circuit court to consider the matter has recognized the right to record police engaged in official duties in public, including the Ninth Circuit, which covers Arizona.

The plaintiffs in this case include the 老澳门开奖结果 of Arizona and the following media organizations: Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.; Gray Television; Scripps Media; KPNX (12 News); Fox Television Stations; Telemundo of Arizona; Arizona Broadcasters Association; States Newsroom (AZ Mirror); Arizona Newspapers Association; and the National Press Photographers Association.

This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.