On Jan. 1, SB 184, known as the ‘Halo Law’ took effect in Florida.
It creates a 25-foot buffer zone around first responders.
Violate it and you could be arrested on a second degree misdemeanor.
Supporters say it will mitigate against bystanders harassing police and fire crews while they work an incident, while critics say it is an attempt to skirt accountability.
Related: Here are the new Florida laws that take effect on New Year’s Day 2025
Local 10 spoke to former state and federal prosecutor David Weinstein, who weighed in on several topics.
FIRST RESPONDERS:
“When out performing a lawful duty,” said Weinstein. “Those first responders are now empowered to tell people who approach them, please stand back, please keep away from me, stay 25-feet away from me, and don’t get any closer, and if you disobey that command, but you have intend to either threaten those people with physical harm, intimidate them, or here is where the issue is going to be, ‘harass’ them, f you intend to do that and you don’t back up 25 feet, whether you are yelling at them, filming them, taking a picture of them, police can arrest you on a misdemeanor, which would result in you potentially going to jail, spending the night, having to bond out and having to go to court. It is a second degree misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to 60 days, but again, in the heat of what is going on, the person that is doing the photography or filing that law enforcement says is ‘harassment’, is going to end up spending the night in jail.”
LET ‘COOLER HEADS’ PREVAIL: HOW THE LAW COULD CAUSE FRICTION BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CIVILIANS BEARING WITNESS
“I think quite frankly it is going to escalate the people who are recoding because on the one end, those people who say ‘this has a chilling effect on my ability to be in a public area and record,’ if they just back up 25 feet, use the zoom feature on their iPhone, they can capture the same images without being in the officer’s face, without being in that 25-foot halo, and they don’t escalate the situation,” said Weinstein. “And the officers are going to be looking for the people who are going to not heed their command, and so it is going to create a situation where the people who want to do the taping, who want to ensure a record of what is going on, they are going to push the envelope, and in response to pushing the envelope, these officers are going to make a spot of the moment decision. Are they harassing me? Did they get so close they impeded my ability to do my job? Do I feel like I am being physically threatened by what’s going on? Are they yelling at me, screaming at me, having a chilling effect on me just trying to do my job and getting to the bottom of what happened and hopefully peacefully making an arrest?”
VAGUE STATUTE CREATES CONCERN:
“The concern about that, and it would, we would all either an ‘as applied’ unconditional law or one that is on its face unconstitutional, because it’s given this vague definition of harassment,” said Weinstein. “What the court will do is it will look to the definition meaning, what does it mean to harass? But the problem is the person who is deciding who is being harassed is the person who is ultimately going to arrest you. Are they going to a reasonable officer’s standard about whether they are being harassed? Is it a reasonable person’s standard? There is no definition in the statute about what harassment means. We all have a general understanding of what it means to ‘harass’ somebody, but are you being harassed, you [the first responder] not the person who is potentially harassing you.”
HOW LONG IS 25-FEET? ABOUT TWO CAR LENGTHS:
“One thing everybody is going to probably wonder is how far is 25 feet? If get the tape measure out, it’s slightly less than two car lengths,” said Weinstein. “That’s 25 feet, you and I can hear each other, we can see each other. I am pretty sure if you took your iPhone out you can zoom you would get a pretty clear picture of what I am doing. And if I am telling you need to be a little further back from that, you need to be a little further back from that.”
The Florida ACLU has stated the law will make it harder to hold “‘bad apple’ officers accountable for excessive use of force” and that it is “criminalizing bystanders,” stating in a letter: “The bill would make it harder to hold police accountable for their actions, would shield police form public scrutiny, and would criminalize individuals for bearing witness.”
TYREEK HILL CASE STUDY:
Some critics of the ‘Halo Law’ cite the recent Tyreek Hill case.
“I think we are going to see it for the first time, in situations where an officer is making an arrest or attempting to talk to someone or subdue them in the process of making an arrest,” said Weinstein. “I don’t think it is as much coming onto a scene that has already been established. I think it is a situation exactly like Tyreek Hill where it was happening at the moment. They just got there, they were first responding, the scene was just developing, nobody set up a perimeter yet. That initial arrest, when people come upon an officer who is arresting somebody, is referenced because it is exactly what happened there. You had law enforcement performing what they believe is a lawful duty and then there were people who were coming up to them and taping what was going on. In the end the charges were dismissed against Tyreek Hill, the officers were found to have been excessive in their use of force when they were putting him into custody. Once this law take effect, which is today, you can’t get within 25-feet of those officers, and many have said had there not been this public view around what was going on, nobody would have known what really happened. However, we did learn a lot about what happened because they had their body worn cameras on. In fact, that is where a lot of the after effect footage came from.”
MIAIM BEACH CASE STUDY:
“This is going to create a situation where in the short term law enforcement is going to exercise control over the situation and there will probably be some arrests, which when they end up going to court, end up getting dismissed,” said Weinstein.
Back in 2021, Miami Beach commissioners passed a similar ordinance prohibiting civilians from getting too close to a police officer after a warning.
Read the ordinance: https://miamibeach.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=22023&MeetingID=930
Watch commissioners discuss the ordinance: https://www.local10.com/news/politics/2021/08/02/unedited-video-miami-beach-prohibits-civilians-from-getting-close-to-cops-after-warning/
The ordinance punishes civilians who are within 20 feet of “of a law enforcement officer engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty, after receiving a warning not to do so; providing penalties for such violation; and providing for repealed, severability, codification, and an effective date.”
After just one month, the chief of police, ACLU Florida states in their opposition to SB 184, ordered the law be suspended. Weinstein explains:
“As a result of the local ordinance, after a month there were at least a dozen arrests, many of which were ultimately dismissed, and in the end, officers getting up getting charged for excessive use of force.”
Related Link: “Viewers react to Miami Beach rough arrest videos and charges against cops: People want a closer look to be taken at police accountability and how communities are policed.” https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/08/02/viewers-react-to-charges-filed-against-miami-beach-cops-in-rough-arrest/
“A judge decided [in the Miami Beach local ordinance arrest cases that were dismissed] there was no intent to harass, no intent to cause physical harm, so the charges ended up getting dismissed. On a couple of those cased the court also found the officers were using excessive force, and I think that is where ACLU Florida is taking their position, that the law will prevent people from exercise their right to be in an area, watch what is going on, and be the independent observer. Not every law enforcement is a bad apple, most are good people who are putting their lives on the line to protect us, but it is in the situations where things do go out of hand.”