Bill That Restricts Citizens From Filming The Police Proposed

“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.

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 1^st 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,

HB 2918 is meant to protect officers, NOT restrict the ability to keep them accountable. It DOES NOT prohibit filming. @TMPALegislative

— Jason Villalba (@JasonVillalba) March 12, 2015

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

@JohnRHorton @JasonVillalba @Copwatch Yeah, I’m real handy with paint, I guess! — Tony McDonald (@TweetTonyMac) March 13, 2015

@JasonVillalba Standing w/police does not preclude citizen oversight. Photography is not a crime & catches/prevents many. NO on HB 2918. — BD Riley’s Irish Pub (@bdrileysaustin) March 13, 2015

@bdrileysaustin I have not restricted filming police. Merely asking folks to stand back a little to let the cops do their job. — Jason Villalba (@JasonVillalba) March 13, 2015

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.