Alia Beard Rau

The Republic | azcentral.com

A bill to make it a crime for the public to shoot close-up video of Arizona police officers is dead.

State Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, the sponsor of Senate Bill 1054, killed the bill himself before it even got a hearing.

"It generated very emotional opposition on both sides," Kavanagh said. "That dooms a bill a bill to failure. Once a bill becomes so mired in controversy ... it's time to move on."

Among other issues, there was concern that the bill may have prevented individuals from recording their own interactions with police. Kavanagh said that had not been his intent with this bill.

The bill came at a time of increased scrutiny of police shootings nationwide, from Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., to Eric Garner in New York. In November, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona launched Mobile Justice AZ, a free smartphone app that allows individuals to automatically send videos of law enforcement activity to the local ACLU if it appears someone's rights have been violated.

A Texas lawmaker unsuccessfully introduced similar legislation earlier this year.

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Kavanagh had initially said the proliferation of cellphones with video capability has created new concerns that must be addressed. He said his bill recognizes individuals' right to record law enforcement, but puts "reasonable restraints" on it.

"I'll go to my grave believing there's nothing wrong with requiring people who want to video police to stand 1.5 car lengths away," he said. \

First Amendment attorney Dan Barr had called the bill an "unconstitutional solution to a nonexistent problem."

"You've had a whole slew of courts hold that people have a First Amendment right to take video of the police in public," he said. "If this bill ever became law, it would be struck down in a nanosecond."

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Aside from that, he had said he doesn't see the need for such legislation.

"State law already gives police the power to arrest people who interfere with them," Barr said. "So the question then becomes, what is the whole point of this bill? It makes as much sense as making it a crime to chew gum or comb your hair or suck a lollipop within 20 feet of an officer. They are not even logically connected."

Barr had said interfering could be something like yelling at an officer while he or she is questioning someone, or physically getting in their way.

"Holding up a video camera is not interfering," he said. "It's irrational before you even get to the constitutional question."