By MassPrivateI
Police across the country are so upset by public harassment that
one state will allow cops to sue people who they perceive as
harassing them.
CBS46�described Georgia’s new ‘police
protection law‘ as giving police more rights.
The start of the new year means new laws take effect
including one that aims to give officers more rights and protect
them from community harassment.
After a year of police reform protests, law enforcement not only
wants to beat, pepper spray and tear gas protesters, now they want
to protect them from community harassment!
According to Atlanta City council member Antonio Brown, this new
law is a slap in the face to police reformers.
“I believe the new police protection legislation that governor
Kemp signed into law is reactive and a complete slap in the face of
all the community organizers, activist, local municipalities that
have worked tirelessly, not just during the unrest we’ve seen
over the last year but over the last decade, to bridge the divide
between police and community,†Brown said.
The state of Georgia’s disturbing response to police reform
protests goes far beyond a slap in the face to community organizers
and activists.
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The very name of House Bill 838 is
offensive to liberty loving Americans’.
House Bill 838 or the “Bias Motivated Intimidation of First
Responders Prosecution Act.†reads like a dystopian president
Trump inspired anti-police reform law.
A person commits the offense of bias motivated intimidation when
such person maliciously and with the specific intent to intimidate,
harass, or terrorize another person because of that person’s
actual or perceived employment as a first responder.
Police activists could be imprisoned for 5 years and fined
$5,000.
Any person that violates subsection (b) of this Code section
shall be guilty of the offense of bias motivated intimidation and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment of not
less than one nor more than five years, a fine of not more than
$5,000.00, or both.
Last year, the NAACP called it the
“Police Hate Crimes Bill.â€
The bill creates enhanced penalties for people who target law
enforcement and other first responders. It also includes a false
misconduct provision that allows police officers to sue for false
misconduct claims.
The NAACP accurately points out why this new law is so
dangerous, “additionally, this bill creates enhanced penalties
for people who allegedly target law enforcement and other
first responders.â€
Imagine facing 5 years in jail for calling cops murderers or
giving a police officer the middle finger. All it would take is for
a police officer to perceive a persons’ actions as harassment and
the judge to agree, and low and behold they could be jailed for 5
years.
The ACLU said House Bill 838
‘turns law enforcement into a protected class.’
The ACLU of Georgia opposes HB 838, the addition of law
enforcement as a protected class, a dangerous step to chill every
Georgian’s First Amendment freedom of speech and the right to
protest to redress grievances – guarantees in the U.S.
Constitution.
The ACLU is right, this new law pours salt into the wounds of
all people affected by police brutality.
“This legislative action in this moment pours salt in the
wounds of the Georgians of all races and backgrounds who are
participating daily in protests calling for the reform of policing
and expressing their support for black lives,†Andrea Young,
executive director of the ACLU of Georgia said.
Leave it to law enforcement to turn themselves into the
victims.
Toward Freedom
It is unconscionable that a civilian police force that looks and
acts like an occupying army can claim to be the victim[s] of
harassment after a year of Black Lives Matter protests.
As The Verge
explains, “How do you show this to the world when you’re
worried that the very people on the frontline protesting might
become the target? How else could people know exactly how terrible
this is unless it was documented like this?â€
“Police officers behave the way that they [do] at these
protests while dozens of cameras are streaming live, and thousands
of eyes are on them, and millions more are watching through clips
on Twitter and Instagram later,†reporter Dae Shae Kim Jr. says.
He says seeing officers, who live in the same communities they
police, violently attacking protesters disturbed him the most.
Georgia’s law and others like it must be challenged before
every state turns law enforcement into a protected class that can
arrest and sue citizens for exercising their First Amendment
rights.
Source:
MassPrivateI Blog
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Georgia Becomes The First State To Allow Police To Sue People For
Harassment
