Attorney General Todd Rokita successfully defends 25-foot ‘buffer zone’ protecting police at crime scenes

JANUARY 17, 2024

Attorney General Todd Rokita has prevailed on behalf of regular law-and-order Hoosiers who love their police. He has successfully defended the constitutionality of an Indiana law creating a 25-foot buffer zone around police officers performing official duties.

The law prohibits bystanders from approaching any closer than that distance when police officers are working in accidents, crime scenes, investigations or other such events. Under the law, an individual violating an officer’s order to observe the buffer zone may be charged with a misdemeanor.

“Our brave men and women in law enforcement risk their lives daily to uphold our laws and safeguard Hoosiers’ peace and safety,” Attorney General Rokita said. “The very least we can do is enforce reasonable measures to protect these officers’ own lives.”

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year claiming the buffer-zone law infringed on citizens’ First Amendment rights, including journalists, to document and observe police activities.

This month, a federal judge rightly noted that the law “never once permits an officer to tell a reporter or citizen-journalist to leave altogether or to cease recording police activity” and “has only an incidental effect on the public’s First Amendment right to capture audio and video and otherwise scrutinize police conduct.”

Another lawsuit filed by several media outlets remains pending in another federal district court.

“Both the law and everyday Hoosiers are on our side in standing strongly behind our courageous police officers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “We are confident we will prevail as well in the other case brought by fake-news types trying to overturn this good law.”