Foundation urges veto: FL bill could prevent civilians from recording police conduct in public

Police squad car lights. (Stock photo by Oliver Helbig/Getty Images)

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The First Amendment Foundation wants Floridians to urge Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto a bill barring people from getting too close to first responders doing their jobs.

Members of the foundation called SB 184 blatantly unconstitutional in an email statement sent out Thursday morning in which they asked people to contact the governor’s office. Under the bill lawmakers passed this year, it would be a misdemeanor for a person to get within 25 feet of a first responder “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty” if the first responder has warned the person to stay away.

DeSantis received the bill from the Legislature on Wednesday.

“We appreciate the importance of protecting first responders but are concerned that the bill prevents citizens from going near or filming first responders within 25 feet if told not to approach,” the First Amendment Foundation wrote. “This bill would undermine citizen journalists and could allow for undocumented police misconduct.”

Thursday’s call to action for Floridians also included a letter members of the foundation sent to DeSantis on April 4. In the letter to the governor, the First Amendment Foundation likened SB 184 to a similar law Arizona passed in 2022, which prohibited bystanders from recording police within eight feet.

The Arizona ACLU and media organizations reached a settlement agreement with the state permanently blocking the law.

“While Senate Bill 184 doesn’t have a specific provision against filming first responders while working, we find the law is highly discretionary and would enable responders to order reporters and citizens with smartphones to stop video or audio recording, or simply observing, in violation of their constitutional rights,” the group wrote in the letter to DeSantis.

One such instance was Darnella Frazier’s recording of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd, which prompted protests across the country. She also testified during Chauvin’s trial, according to NPR.

SB 184 received nearly unanimous support in the Senate, with Democrat Bobby Powell of Palm Beach County voting against it. In the House, 27 Democrats voted against it.

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