4 ms·
> Then, as a cop, you arrest them. That's not a realistic suggestion, though. If a cop is already arresting someone who's violently resisting, and then a crow
by knodi123 4y ago
> Then, as a cop, you arrest them.
That's not a realistic suggestion, though. If a cop is already arresting someone who's violently resisting, and then a crowd pushes in, are you seriously going to suggest he needs to ask the guy he was wrestling to "put a pin in this" while he arrests several other people for crowding?
There needs to be an effective way to make people aware and discouraged ahead of time from crowding in too close. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but "just arrest the whole crowd if you think they're interfering" is not it.
- bigiain 4y agoIf you have “a whole crowd” who’re already prepared to risk an obstructing police charge, do you really think adding a potential “filming while too close to a police officer” charge is likely to change their behaviour?
- knodi123 4y agoWell, yeah. What does "obstructing" mean? As an ordinary joe, I would assume it means getting in their way or bothering them or trying to interfere, or even just moving in a way that could be interpreted as threatening. So it's a crowd of people who don't know they're risking charges, because who the hell knows. But if the rule was "stay back 8 feet".... That's a lot less ambiguous. And also recently publicized. I would expect such a rule to change peoples' behavior.