ATLANTA | A package of bills
sponsored by a handful of junior Georgia lawmakers focuses on protecting
individual freedoms by restricting what law enforcement agencies can do on
their own, prompting a discussion about balancing public safety against
personal privacy.
In the wake of recent protests
against law enforcement power and news reports of police raids that have gone
wrong, the lawmakers say their proposals have won bipartisan support, even
across the philosophical spectrum from liberal to conservative.
“I definitely think that our
constitutional right to protection is beyond partisan ideology,” said Rep. Scot
Turner, R-Holly Springs. “It’s pretty rare for someone to say we should throw
our Bill of Rights out the window.”
The broad support is unlikely for
politicians who are early in their careers and who are unflinchingly
conservative in their beliefs.
Even the news coverage has been
largely uncritical and outsized for relative newcomers.
That’s not to say there aren’t
those, particularly in
law enforcement, who disagree with
at least parts of the legislators’ agendas.
Those bills include:
House Bill 56, which limits use of
no-knock warrants;
HB 69, which aims to safeguard the
driving data contained in a car’s “black box” by requiring the owner’s
permission or a warrant to access it; http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20152016/HB/69
HB 74, which prohibits any state or
local agency from assisting federal officials or the military in investigating
terrorism suspects who could be detained indefinitely under a 3-year-old
federal law;
HB 93, which requires police
agencies to destroy records of license-plate readers after 30 days;
HB 112, which would outlaw without a
warrant the use of radar or other devices that can detect human activity
through walls, roofs and other building structures.
There may be two or three more bills
introduced in coming days, according to Rep. David Stover, R-Newnan. He
declined to provide information on their subject.
“Our job is to restrict government,”
said Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine.
Several of the bills target new
technology, like Spencer’s HB 69 that deals with computers on cars that track
information about speed, braking, turning and other driving habits. The most
sophisticated also track GPS coordinates to record everywhere the vehicle has
traveled.
Spencer fears insurance companies,
manufacturers, plaintiff’s attorneys and even prosecutors could get access to
that data without the driver’s knowledge. The bill asserts that the data is the
property of the vehicle owner and can only be retrieved with permission or a
court order.
“There is this feeling that technology
is eroding our civil liberties,” he said.
Turner’s measure, HB 74, aims to
block enforcement of a defense appropriation law that the Obama administration
says permits locking up terrorism suspects with no set term, including
Americans arrested on U.S. soil. Critics call it unconstitutional, even the
American Civil Liberties Union that conservatives generally oppose.
Although the issues involve
fundamental legal principles, no one in the informal group is a lawyer.
“Sometimes not being a lawyer is
helpful for the discussion,” Stover said.
But they get help from lawyers in
the Legislature as well as more senior members of the House, Turner said.
“I think a lot of the veteran
legislators are on board with what we’re trying to do. They’re offering advice
and guidance on how to make it better,” he said.
The law enforcement profession has a
mixed reaction to most of the proposals.
For instance, radar to peer through
walls is commonly used by fire departments, but the Savannah-Chatham
Metropolitan Police Department doesn’t make regular use of it, according to
spokesman Julian Miller. And while accessing autos’ data is becoming common in
the case of serious crashes, in both instances, the department has the OK of
the owner or a judge.
“We already get warrants because we
don’t want anybody coming back saying you don’t have permission,” Miller said.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Director Vernon Keenan takes the same approach. He notes that technology is
developing faster than courts can react, leaving legislatures to set policies
to safeguard personal privacy.
He has often said he favors
legislation like HB 93 that controls what police do with the records of devices
mounted on patrol cars that record the time and place when car tags drive into
sight.
“I do believe there needs to be
restrictions on the retention and sharing,” he said. “... I put this in the
general category of technology which invades personal privacy, which I believe
should require some type of judicial authorization, whether it’s a warrant or a
court order.”
But others in law enforcement don’t
fully agree.
Investigations often take longer
than 30 days, and clues could be lost by destroying records made of
government-issued tags in plain sight of public roads, according to Terry
Norris, executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association.
“You might be losing some valuable
information that could solve a violent crime,” he said.
The bill on no-knock warrants is
also a concern of the sheriffs. Limiting the time of day and other
circumstances in executing a door-busting search could jeopardize officers’
safety instead of surprising violent suspects when they’re likely to be asleep,
Norris warned.
News stories about a couple of
botched no-knock raids have aided the liberty-proclaiming legislators and helped
them garner media coverage of their bills.
Keenan isn’t concerned that most of
these proposals would make the law enforcement’s job more difficult.
“There are additional investigative
steps and requirements before you use the technology,” he said. “The Supreme
Court has said the convenience of law enforcement doesn’t outweigh the need for
privacy protection.”
How the proposals fare over the
balance of the 40-day session remains to be seen. Most have been assigned to
one of two judiciary committees dominated by lawyers. The sponsors are asking
the chairmen to schedule hearings where members of the public and experts can
testify, as well as opponents.
Follow Walter Jones on Twitter
@MorrisNews and Facebook or contact him at walter.jones@morris.com.
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