Florida Senate approves bill making it a crime to harass first responders

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A bill creating penalties for refusing to stay back from first responders as the carry out their official duties passed the Florida Senate unanimously Thursday morning.

Under the bill, Floridians could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor if they come within 14 feet of a first responder with the intent to threaten, harass or disrupt a first responder performing official duties.

Randy Reaves, President of FOP Lodge 5-30 explained the penalty would only apply if a person had first been warned by a first responder to keep their distance.

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“Our officers again, are put in life and death situations, high stress situations, and we’re seeing more and more people that are there trying to agitate them, trying to make the situation worse,” said Reaves.

While seemingly noncontroversial in the Senate, there has been some opposition in the House.

Despite the bill explicitly allowing for the filming of first responders, Democratic lawmakers questioned whether police misconduct incidents, like the murder of George Floyd, could ever be exposed if the bill were in place.

“The only reason why we’re able to know the story of George Floyd, and to know what happened to George Floyd is because people were recording and they were recoding closely,” said State Representative LaVon Bracy Davis (D-Orlando) in the bill’s final committee stop in the House on January 23rd.

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During that meeting, other Democratic lawmakers raised questions about vague terms in the bill and whether it could be abused by bad actors.

“If they’re quite but still talking that’s another thing, if they’re loud is that another thing? What point is it no longer peaceful?” questioned State Representative Dotie Joseph (D-North Miami).

But Reaves argued the intent is to both keep first responders and the general public safe.

“If an officer asks the public to step back so they can continue to do their work, we just advise the public to listen to them,” said Reaves.

There are some minor differences between the House version and the Senate version.

Specifically, the distance people will need to keep from first responders when asked.

Lawmakers need to bring the bills into alignment before they can send the legislation to the Governor’s desk.

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