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Comment by kenniskrag | Hacker News Reader

I could imagine if you arrest one person and some people walk towards you they don't know if the just film or want to attack. I as police would need one who watch if someone come close and another one who arrest the person.

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Do people generally walk up to police while they are arresting someone inorder to attack the officer? That seems like too vague a threat, let people record.

I've seen plenty of released bodycam footage where they basically do; usually some form of white-knighting for the arrestee. But this is likely heavily influenced by a form of observation bias, where footage which shows police "under attack"[0] is more likely to be released than footage of cops behaving badly.

[0] usually it isn't terribly violent and the danger comes mostly from distraction; despite ACAB I do have some sympathy for the police in these situations

I'm in favor of officer safety, but if this law was actually about officer safety, there's no need to mention recording. Just write the law to keep all bystanders 8ft away. Because it specifically mentions recording, this law is not about officer safety, it's about limiting recording.

I basically agree. Unfortunately this law is more likely to be actually upheld and applied than one which says you can't come within 8ft of a cop, period; and therefore it is more effective at achieving the intended goal which is more about giving cops special privileges in general, not just about limiting recording.

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