Rokita
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has defended the constitutionality of an Indiana law creating a 25-foot buffer zone around police officers performing official duties.
The law prohibits bystanders from approaching any closer than that distance when police officers are working accidents, crime scenes, investigations, or other such events. Under the law, an individual violating an officer’s order to observe the buffer zone may be charged with a misdemeanor.
“Our brave men and women in law enforcement risk their lives daily to uphold our laws and safeguard Hoosiers’ peace and safety,” AG Rokita said. “The very least we can do is enforce reasonable measures to protect these officers’ own lives.”
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year claiming the buffer-zone law infringed on the First Amendment rights of citizens, including journalists, to document and observe police activities.
This month, a federal judge noted that the law “never once permits an officer to tell a reporter or citizen-journalist to leave altogether or to cease recording police activity” and “has only an incidental effect on the public’s First Amendment right to capture audio and video and otherwise scrutinize police conduct.”
Another lawsuit on this matter filed by several media outlets remains pending in another federal district court.
“Both the law and everyday Hoosiers are on our side in standing strongly behind our courageous police officers,” Rokita said. “We are confident we will prevail as well in the other case brought by fake-news types trying to overturn this good law.”