On Friday, 12 April 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two controversial bills to protect law enforcement from "anti-police activists."
SB 184 sets a 25-foot "no-go" zone around police and first responders who are "engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty." Citizens in violation of the rule will receive a verbal warning. Failure to comply will result in a second-degree misdemeanor. This bill goes into effect 1 January 2025.
HB 601 limits the abilities of citizen police oversight boards to investigate misconduct allegations and gives power to county sheriffs and police chiefs to appoint members. The bill takes effect 1 July 2024 and is described as a “death knell” for oversight boards throughout the Sunshine State.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, a retired US Army helicopter pilot of 30 years and DeSantis appointee, praised the legislation.
"These men and women [the police] do not need to be scrutinized again and again by a committee that has no idea what they're talking about," Glass said at a press conference.
Democratic State Rep. Christopher Benjamin from Miami Gardens, FL disagreed: "We don't believe the police can best investigate the police."
Through these bills, the attached image is what GOP Florida Governor Ron DeSantis doesn’t want you to see, the oversight boards to investigate, or the public to know about.
If not for the heroics of a nearby young woman who photographed the brutal arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin and his accomplices may have gotten away with murder.
Sources:
www.flgov.com
www.flsenate.gov/...
www.upi.com/…