Protect our Right to Watch and Record Police to Hold Them Accountable

I am in strong opposition to HB1868 (Roberts), HB3257 (Hovis), HB3355 (Cook), HB3100 (Costlow), HB1930 (Schmidt), which would criminalize approaching within twenty-five feet of a first responder after an oral warning. While framed as a protection measure, these bills pose serious threats to civil liberties, democratic accountability, and the rights of working people and marginalized communities. The bill grants first responders (including law enforcement) unilateral authority to create a twenty-five-foot exclusion zone around themselves simply by issuing a verbal command. No probable cause is required. No judicial oversight exists. A single officer can, at their own discretion, criminalize the presence of a bystander, a journalist, a legal observer, or a community member who simply wants to witness what is happening in their own neighborhood. That is not public safety, that is unchecked power. We must be honest about who this law will be used against. Communities of color, unhoused individuals, labor picketers, and protest participants will bear the brunt of enforcement. History shows that "buffer zone" laws and similar statutes are disproportionately applied to suppress dissent and shield misconduct from public view. The vague definition of "harass" (conduct causing "substantial emotional distress") is dangerously broad and invites selective, politically motivated prosecution. Civilian oversight of law enforcement and emergency services depends on the public's ability to observe, document, and bear witness to police activity. The right to record officers in public spaces has been upheld repeatedly by federal courts as protected First Amendment activity. This bill directly undermines that right by allowing officers to physically distance the public from their actions before any interference has even occurred. The solution to genuine threats against first responders already exists in Missouri law. Assault, obstruction, and harassment statutes cover actual harmful conduct. These bills go far beyond that, they pre-emptively punish presence, not conduct.