In the wake of police officers being targeted and shot in Texas and Louisiana earlier this year—some instances ostensibly related to officers shooting unarmed civilians—the Pennsylvania state legislature passed a bill that would have limited public officials’ ability to identify officers involved in shootings for safety reasons.
On Nov. 21, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed that bill.
“While I am deeply concerned for the safety of the Commonwealth’s police officers, government works best when trust and openness exist between citizens and their government, and as such, I cannot sign into law a policy that will enshrine the withholding of information in the public interest,” he said.
[pullquote]“These situations in particular—when law enforcement uses deadly force—demand utmost transparency, otherwise a harmful mistrust will grow between police officers and the communities they protect and serve. Further, I cannot allow local police department policies to be superseded and transparency to be criminalized, as local departments are best equipped to decide what information is appropriate to release to the public.”[/pullquote]
Several local civil rights activists had called for the veto and were gratified by the governor’s action. Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of The Black Political Empowerment Project called on the governor to veto the legislation, HB 1538, just last week, noting it would turn back recent hard-won progress in local community-police relations.
“This (issue) remains on of the most racially sensitive in our Commonwealth and the nation,” he said. “House Bill HB 1538, if signed, will further deteriorate an already existing bad situation between communities of color and police throughout Pennsylvania.”
It was not only justice advocates who opposed the bill, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association also called for a veto.
“Police departments across the country are moving toward—not- away from—more transparency in police-involved and use-of-force incidents. Law enforcement agencies and citizen advocates alike back release of this information as a means to calm their communities, affirm their commitment to transparency, and assure community members that the criminal justice system is working, or will work, fairly and appropriately,” the association said in a statement.
“The names of police officers whose actions cause injury to citizens must be presumptively public. HB 1538 would also inappropriately tie the hands of police departments all across Pennsylvania by prohibiting them from releasing officer identities, whether the situation demands it or not. We believe that the bill is bad public policy, contrary to the public’s right to know and understand what is happening in their communities, and detrimental to police/community relations and trust.”
Though the legislation passed with bi-partisan support by a veto-proof margin, it is doubtful the legislature will attempt to override the governor’s action. Its two-year session ends Nov. 30, and lawmakers have already left the Capitol for the holidays with no plans to return until the new two-year session begins in January.
State Rep. Martina White, R-Philadelphia, who sponsored the bill, released a statement saying she would re-introduce it in the next session.
“Shootings are increasingly political,” she said. “That places the lives of our officers and the lives of their family members in danger. While we need transparency whenever police are involved in a shooting, we owe our officers basic protection from threats.”
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