Arizona lawmaker wants to make filming cops a crime—if you’re too close "You can film, but you've got to stay back 20 feet."

"Basically what this law says is if the officer is engaged in law enforcement activity, so he's making an arrest or he's questioning a suspicious person, you can film, but you've got to stay back 20 feet," Kavanagh told The Associated Press. "The reason being when you get closer, you become a distraction, the officer doesn't know if you're a threat, and that jeopardizes everybody's safety, including the officer."

While courts have been affirming the constitutional right of the public to film officers on duty, Sen. Kavanagh said his proposal does not infringe on that right.

"The First Amendment is subject to reasonable restriction," he said. "And asking somebody to simply stay back 20 feet so you don't interject yourself into the scene and become a distraction to me seems reasonable."


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[link to arstechnica.com]