For some context not in this thread yet, I’m sure this is being driven in part by cop watchers like James Freeman who are really doing God’s work by bringing attention to rampant corruption of police against recording.
Those saying “8 feet seems reasonable” haven’t thought through this at all. Watching James’ videos the cops are constantly trying to push him, crowd him and generally do anything in (and out) of their power to try and shut him down. With a rule like this they would absolutely abuse it by just having one officer move forward into your space even if you back away. You absolutely cannot give them leeway like this, if you don’t believe me watch some of the videos. It’s really eye opening what they try and get away with.
He has multiple videos of himself engaging in constitutionally protected activity -- filming in public -- but police officers routinely harass him, and in some cases they get physical.
In one recent case in Connecticut, he was assaulted and had his phone thrown by an officer who lost his temper, and no other officer intervened:
I get that some people think the First Amendment Audit community is made up of people who are trying to provoke law enforcement, but Reyes is a great example of an auditor who does nothing provocative other than engaging in lawful, constitutionally protected activity, and yet still gets regularly harassed by police and other public servants.
Highly recommend watching a few of his videos, here’s a mix of his run ins with Tucson police: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEHv5tmOgVtXPiKPLK1cCp8An...
Those saying “8 feet seems reasonable” haven’t thought through this at all. Watching James’ videos the cops are constantly trying to push him, crowd him and generally do anything in (and out) of their power to try and shut him down. With a rule like this they would absolutely abuse it by just having one officer move forward into your space even if you back away. You absolutely cannot give them leeway like this, if you don’t believe me watch some of the videos. It’s really eye opening what they try and get away with.