In January of 2017, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) published a list of the top 10 issues that will be before state legislatures across the nation this year. While we’re just over a quarter of the way through the two-year 2017-2018 legislative session, it’s worth a look to see what our own elected officials are doing to address each of the issues. The next topic up for consideration: police-community relations.
If recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia have taught us anything, it’s that racial and social justice issues are still at the forefront of our national discourse. Nationwide, marches and protests are creating a combustible atmosphere, ripe for police-citizen interactions. Legislatures are charged with enacting state policies that strike the ever delicate balance between ensuring public safety while preserving citizens’ constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. Across the country, there are new laws on the books addressing police body cameras, investigations into officer-involved deaths and community policing.
Just this summer, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed S.B. 560 (Greenleaf, R-Montgomery), which amended the state Wiretap Act to allow police officers to record audio (in addition to video) inside a home. The bill, now Act 22 since it has been signed into law by the Governor, also eliminated the requirement that police officers notify a person that they are being recorded where it is clear to the observer that the person to whom they are speaking is a law enforcement officer. The bill also established procedures for the request and use of the recorded footage that are different than the procedures under the state’s Right to Know Law. In addition to these statutory changes that allow for the expanded use of body cameras, the Commonwealth received a $52,000 federal grant to help fund a body camera pilot program. In a similar vein, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania also issued a ruling this summer that would allow audio recording by police car “dash cams” to be released in the course of court proceedings, in addition to the already permissible use of video footage.
We’ve also seen movement this session on legislation, H.B. 27 (White, R-Philadelphia) that would withhold the identity of police officers who are involved in incidents where a firearm has been discharged or where the use of force by a police officer results in death or serious bodily injury to an individual, unless and until the officer is charged with a criminal offense. The bill passed the House of Representatives in March, was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and reported to the full Senate for consideration. The bill is now “on the table” in the Senate, but could be brought up for consideration when session resumes in September.
While moving ahead on those two fronts, Pennsylvania has yet to establish any statewide policy or adopt any legislation related to community policing. The idea of community policing is that police take more of a proactive role in their communities and neighborhoods: think “beat cops” from years gone by. While the “reactive” role of the police, responding to calls for help, is certainly essential for safe communities, it has been shown that when police are a fixture in the community, known to the public and are allowed to follow-up on cases, better policing and safer neighborhoods are a result. Some communities and even regions of the state are moving toward a community policing model, but state funding will likely be required for this initiative to really take off because community policing requires the that local departments be appropriately staffed and have adequate resources to become entrenched in their communities.
A civilized society needs to balance preserving public safety and upholding our constitutional rights to privacy and against self-incrimination, which makes police-community relations difficult to address. Further complicating the matter, the issue often creates a textbook split between liberals and conservatives, democrats and republicans. As the legislature continues this fragile yet important balancing act, we will keep you updated. Stay tuned to this blog or follow us @BuchananLobbyists for updates.