Bill That Restricts Citizens From Filming The Police Proposed

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“If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about” is the common refrain from those who advocate the increasing surveillance of civilian activities. These words do not seem to mean much to Texas State Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas), with regards to the reverse situation anyway.

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He filed a bill on Tuesday to prevent citizen filming of police officers. The bill, HB 2918, would criminalize the filming, photographing, and recording of law enforcement officials within 25 feet of officers performing their duties, and up to 100 feet if the person making the recording has a concealed weapon. 25 feet is a distance long enough to severely restrict the level of detail that the average person with a smartphone could record, making it that much harder to tell the difference between a case of police brutality and simple self-defense. Execution, as opposed to self-preservation.

This proposed bill completely contradicts the Federal court rulings last year that had allowed police to be filmed and recorded while doing their work. The Federal 1st Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that a New Hampshire woman had the right to videotape the police officer under the First Amendment in the most recent court decision.

The bill grants an exception to the “news media.” Unfortunately, the bill defines the news media as the following:

(A)  a radio or television station that holds a license issued by the Federal Communications Commission;

(B)  a newspaper that is qualified under Section 2051.044, Government Code, to publish legal notices or is a free newspaper of general circulation and that is published at least once a week and available and of interest to the general public in connection with the dissemination of news or public affairs; or

(C)  a magazine that appears at a regular interval, that contains stories, articles, and essays by various writers, and that is available and of interest to the general public in connection with the dissemination of news or public affairs.

Online media, bloggers and ordinary citizens are not covered under this interpretation of “news media”. The growth of citizen journalism is basically the only reason we are even aware of most cases of police brutality, and video evidence far outweighs the verbal recount of impressionable witnesses. Internet citizen journalism has risen to fill the void; the death of investigative journalism on the part of the news media (with far fewer investigative journos than ever before), gave birth to the citizen investigators we have today. This is why the authorities are keen to keep the average sleuth from interfering, you are the last bastion of real reporters who dares to question the views of the politicians.

Villalba’s bill would essentially criminalize bloggers who dared to record police officers.

Americans all over the country are outraged at Villalba’s bill, a point that they’ve made known to the Texas politician via his Twitter and Facebook account. Villalba took to Twitter to explain the intent of his bill,

But he started getting a little frustrated with critics when they kept pressing him on the matter. Who says internet trolling is useless?

 

Finally, after caving in to his frustration, Villalba then issued a challenge to opponents of his bill, daring them to vote him out. It appears some local Tea Party activists are rising to the occasion. A Facebook page was created called “Reagan Conservatives Against Jason Villalba.” When asked about this bill, Dallas area Tea Party activist and former Congressional candidate Katrina Pierson had harsh words for Villalba.   “Working to strip the rights away from citizens is unacceptable,” Pierson said. “Mr. Villabla is a complete embarrassment of the Republican Party and to the State of Texas,” she added.

Pride cometh before a fall, and Villaba might yet regret his ill-tempered online reaction when he is voted out of office. We will see if this changes matters for him, but hopefully his bill will not be passed regardless. Villalba is up for reelection again in 2016, which is plenty of time for the Tea Party to gather up support against him.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Well, I guess there’s nothing against the law with recording Jason Villalba. Plus, I’d like to know if the Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals feels the same way as the 1st Circuit. Although he likes to hide a bunch of information on his Facebook profile, I couldn’t help but notice that he’s a fan of Margarita Mondays at Bienvenidos… Is that the one located at 920 North I-35 E. Lancaster, TX 75146? Dang! They got 1$ margaritas from 6 PM to close with entree purchase! I can almost taste the Shrimp Veracruz!!!

  2. Come on y’all. We all know the direction the world is going and quickly. It’s already written. Just ask yourself what would have to happen to get to the end times, then look around. You will get an answer everyday. Oh damn !!! I entered in my email address, now I have evidence against me that I’m a Christian and believe in my basic rights as an American. Guess I’m headed for indefinite detention without trial for a crime that I haven’t committed yet, till my beheading atleast. Oh well. . .

  3. Come on y’all. We all know the direction the world is going and quickly. It’s already written. Just ask yourself what would have to happen to get to the end times, then look around. You will get an answer everyday. Oh damn !!! I entered in my email address, now I have evidence against me that I’m a Christian and believe in my basic rights as an American. Guess I’m headed for indefinite detention without trial for a crime that I haven’t committed yet, till my beheading atleast. Oh well. . .

  4. From Romania with love: Hei, police men, suck my dick! This is terorism, not police intervention. You should protect my words, not kill me with bills for fredom of my speach. You have something to hide, hide yourself in my ass.

  5. i don’t even need to read the artical to be angry! they want to take away the safty of americans because the Police of the USA are getting a bad name for the bad shit they do! I do not think so, People have a right to film the police for their own safty and not to mention the officers safty. Recording police has been around since cameras could record videos, and even back then people would still write about what happens and tell people about it. The government of the USA really need to step up their game and relise what this could do for the rep of not only the White House but Police departments all across the US. If they are this worried about Ruining the name of the “Civil servants of the nation” then disregarde the bill and keep the nation as it is and hire Cops that know what the hell they are doing and understand the law CORRECTLY and will follow it!

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