Anti-protest bill is about public safety? What a riot
“Good evening, officer. What’s the problem?”
It was a Friday evening
30 years ago. I was driving through Marion County, returning from a tour of state prisons. A sheriff ’s deputy had pulled me over on U.S. 301.
For whatever reason — he never explained — the deputy had run the plates on my rented car. The check had shown that the previous owner didn’t turn it in.
I showed the deputy the paperwork. After examining it, he tipped his hat and said, “Drive safely, sir.”
Throughout the stop, I never worried. I hadn’t stolen the car. What could go wrong?
Yes, you could call it white privilege.
That experience came to mind as Gov. DeSantis bragged Monday about his “anti-riot” law. Though many aspects of it will invite constitutional challenges, the biggest danger is the discretion it gives every law enforcement officer and agency in Florida.
Fortunately for me, that deputy exercised proper discretion three decades ago. Recent history shows, however, that routine traffic stops can end badly — especially if the driver is Black.
With the “Combating Public Disorder” law, police officers and sheriff ’s deputies now can decide what amounts to peacefully protesting and what amounts to rioting. Or “aggravated rioting.”
What could go wrong? DeSantis and the Republicans who supported the bill contend that they are targeting all violent protests, including the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. In fact, DeSantis proposed this last September.
His announcement came after a summer of protests that began with the killing of George Floyd on May 25. The governor and Republicans were aiming directly at Black Lives Matter, not the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
As we saw on Jan. 6, and as the FBI confirms, those radical, far-right groups threaten law and order — not to mention democracy — much more than George Floyd protesters. Even the staff analysis of House Bill 1 acknowledges that “many protests” last year remained peaceful.
In 2005, when Florida passed the “stand your ground” law, supporters could not cite one instance of wrongful prosecution for self-defense. Yet the National Rifle Association called the law essential to public safety and dismissed critics who warned of unintended consequences.
The critics were right. Among other things, the statute has prevented prosecutors from charging gang members when gunfire exchanges kill innocent people. It has emboldened Floridians to use deadly force in response to loud music and texting during a movie.
You can imagine the unintended consequences from the “anti-riot” bill. A hundred people gather in a peaceful protest. One idiot throws a brick through a storefront. Do the police arrest the right person or arrest everyone and sort it out later?
Now add the politics. Monday’s signing ceremony included no Democrats or African Americans. It did include Republican law enforcement representatives whom Republicans have coddled for more than two decades.
Toronto’s York University studied 64 events in the United States between 2017 and 2018 in which protesters and/or counter-protesters were arrested. Right-leaning demonstrators made up just 8% of the arrests. Of those arrested, 81% were left-leaning.
Current Florida law, as it should, criminalizes violent protest. Current Florida law, as it should, criminalizes violence against law enforcement.
The aim of the “anti-riot” bill — with its enhanced penalties and new offenses — is to discourage certain protests from ever starting. Law enforcement has broad new power, and those who drive a car into demonstrators likely could make their own “stand your ground” defense.
The political cherry on top is the new power of police chiefs to challenge budget cuts. Taken to the extreme, chiefs could accuse city commissions that try to cut lavish pension benefits of “defunding” the police.
“Stand your ground” was a dangerous precedent. So is the “anti-riot” bill. It allows law enforcement to interpret the First Amendment.
Some officials may do fine. But what about, say, Marion County Sheriff Bobby Woods? Last August, he forbade the public from wearing masks inside the department’s office. Woods backed off on that, but the order still applies to deputies.
Woods me-to-oed Monday’s gushing over the bill. The “unapologetic” DeSantis basked, having made another political statement for 2022 and 2024. More skeptical Floridians might ask, “Governor, what’s the problem?”