Back The Blue Is The Law In This State

Written By BlabberBuzz | Friday, 18 June 2021 10:00 PM
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Back The Blue Is The Law In This State

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds pledged to support law enforcement after signing legislation Thursday to turn rioting into a felony and establish qualified immunity that would protect police officers and state employees from being held responsible for monetary damages.

The Back the Blue Act establishes an aggravated misdemeanor charge for “interference with public disorder control” and broadens state criminal code to hold someone liable for a serious misdemeanor if they evade an unmarked law enforcement vehicle. An earlier version of the code only prohibited eluding a marked vehicle.

“I made it clear in my Condition of the State Address that Iowa’s law enforcement will always have my respect, and I will always have their back,” Reynolds declared. “Today’s bill embodies that commitment in a historic way. Public peace is too important, and the safety of our officers too precious, to tolerate destructive behavior."

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The law also expands penalties against anyone who is charged with unlawful assembly and extends the code to include those who could be charged to include those "who joined a lawful assembly but willingly remains after the assembly becomes unlawful."

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The bill also offers immunity from civil liability to any driver “who is exercising due care and who injures another person who is participating in a protest, demonstration, riot, or unlawful assembly or who is engaging in disorderly conduct and is blocking traffic in a public street.”

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Some Senate Republicans weighed in on the bill signing. “The 2021 Iowa Legislative Session was a historic success on many issues, ranging from tax relief, to broadband, to free speech protections,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said. “However, none of those policies matter without the protection of life and livelihoods of Iowans. Iowans depend on law enforcement to be there when they need them. Senate Republicans promised Iowans we would back the blue and with the governor’s signature today, we have kept our promise.”

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Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, criticized the law in a Thursday statement, stating it is “clearly an effort to shut down well-founded public criticism of abuses by law enforcement and government, especially from Black Lives Matter activists."

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“It’s especially frustrating that this expansion of police powers with fewer checks came in direct response to the thousands of peaceful protestors who have been protesting excessive force and abuse by police,” Stringer stressed.

Republican and Democratic officials have taken significantly different approaches to law enforcement following the protests against police in 2020, with Democratic-led jurisdictions such as Chicago tightening its police foot pursuit policy and others moving to pull funds from police departments.

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Other Republican-led states have floated measures creating special penalties for those involved in unlawful protests. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure April 19 that subjects local government decisions to reduce police funding to state-level administrative review and increase penalties for people who participate in a riot.

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