WINTER HAVEN –Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on Monday a sweeping bill that he says will increase punishment for people who violently riot, loot and destroy property, and punish cities thatdon’t protect lives and property andattempt to redirect funding for law enforcement.
But detractors say the law violates residents’ first-amendment rights to free speechand targets Black communities, which protested last summer following the death ofan unarmedblack man,George Floyd,at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
DeSantis signed the bill on the day the jury in the trial of one of those officers later received the case.In Brevard, activists are also awaiting the decision by State Attorney Phil Archer to charge or not charge a Brevard Sheriff's deputy in the fatal shooting of two Black Cocoa teens in November.
"We're going to hold you accountable, we're not going to end up like Portland, where this is just a daily occurrence, where thesepeople are doing this, they get arrested, they have their mugshot taken and they get put right back out on the street to do it again," DeSantis said at a brief ceremony in Polk County, where he was flanked by attorney general Ashley Moody, members of the legislature and a posse of sheriffs, among them— front and center — Brevard County's Wayne Ivey.
Among many things, the “Combating Public Disorder” law:
- Allows the state to circumventlocal authorityand punish municipalities that attempt to reduce or eliminate funding for law enforcement
- Allow businesses damaged or destroyed in lootings or riots to sue municipalities that don’t provide law enforcement protection
- Increaseslegal charges for people who assault anyone, particularly law enforcement, or damage property during a riot
- Revisesthe prohibition on obstructing traffic by standing on the street
- Prohibitsprotesters from using or threatening to use imminent force against another person
- Requiresa person arrested for rioting to be held in custody until their first appearance in court
- And prohibitsdefacing, injuringor damaging a memorial or historic property, including flags
“It isthe strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country and there’s just nothing even close,” DeSantis said.“If you riot, if you loot, if you harm others, particularly if you harm a law enforcement officer, during one of these violent assemblies, you’re going to jail.”
Last week:Dream Defenders call on United Nations to stop Florida anti-riot bill
Opinion:We’re fighting the climate crisis – and the Florida Legislature’s anti-free speech bill
DeSantis was particularly critical ofcallsto “defund,”“unfund” or reduce funding for law enforcement agencies.
“Some local governments are telling police to stand downwhile cities were burned, while business were burned and people were being harmed. That’s a dereliction of duty,” DeSantis said,referring to cities like Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis, which saw weeks of rioting last summer. “If you’re derelict in your duty as alocal government, if you tell law enforcement to stand down, then you’re responsible for the damage that ensues and someone’s been harmed or their property’s been destroyed, then they can sue you for compensation.”
But many people say that police are routinely dealing with mentally unstable people and lack the training to handle them.Andsosome Black Lives Matter protesters want police to divertfundingto mental health counseling.
According to published reports, the city of St. Petersburg in January passed a law that diverted $850,000 for new police officers to insteadcreate a “Community Assistance Liaison” program, and hire mental health workers to respond tosome policecalls.
The new law authorizes an Administration Commissionin Tallahasseeto overturn that budget.If that were to happen, the city would have to appeal to the commissionand the governor’s officewould conduct a budget hearing on the matter, making recommendations to the commission, whichwould thenapprove, amendor modify the municipality's budget.
It’s not clear if St.Petersburgwill nowhave to go throughthisprocess.
About two dozen law officers and state officials — all of them white —stood behind DeSantis as he made his announcement.Those who spoke all said the law upholds people’s constitutional right to protest.
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson, whor*presents Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties,helped spearhead the DeSantis initiative through the upper legislative body. Heacknowledgedits controversy.
More:Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey: 'Anti-riot' legislation 'tramples' home rule authority
In March:Florida 'anti-riot' bill, backed by Gov. DeSantis, moves closer to passage in House
“Somehow, this became a political punt issue, and I don’t know how it’s political to say, ‘I’m going to protect law enforcement, we’re going to protect people’sproperty and there’s going to be rules of engagement if you decideto riot.’Notprotest — you can peacefully protest every day and should peacefully protest if you feel like that’s necessary.But if you cross the line and you start damagingproperty, you start threatening law enforcement, then this law is going to have the enhanced penalties that exist here.”
Tampa saw some of the most violent protests in the state last summer, with crowds stopping traffic along Fowler Avenue, looting a jewelry store and clothing stores near University Square Mall and burning down Champs, asporting goods store. A neighboring Asian restaurant was also set on fire.
DeSantis criticized California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whoon Saturdaytoldreporters thatdemonstrators"stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”She made her remarks in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where she joined demonstrations over the police shootinglast weekof another young black man, Daunte Wright,who was resisting arrest.
“That is totally unacceptable,” DeSantis said of Waters’ remarks.He added that he is working toshepherd throughthe legislature $1,000 bonusesfor law enforcement andfirstresponders.
Ivey, whom DeSantis touted as being a part of the process since the measure's inception, said the bill protects citizens, cops and the constitution.
"I’ve learned twothingsalong the way – one,that crime will rise to the level a community willtolerate,and,two,government’s one and onlyresponsibility is to protect its citizens,”saidIvey, who spent alengthy career in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement before becoming Brevard County Sheriff. "And that’s exactly what this law does.It alsogives law enforcement the teeth they need to hold those accountable that commit violence,destruction,mayhem on those here in the state of Florida.”
Brevard County saw numerous peaceful protests for racial justice and police reform over the last year but no riots. The largest protest drew more than3,000 demonstrators who walked from Rockledge to Cocoa last June. Many demonstrators took aim at Sheriff Ivey at the time asking him to release video footagefrom the Brevard County Jail that depicted the lastmoments of consciousness of Black US Army combat veteran Gregory Edwards who was booked into the jail amid a PTSD episodeand later died following a violent altercation with deputies in December 2018.
Ahead of the Cocoa rally, two Black residents were arrested for allegedly posting on social media encouragementto burn police vehicles and the county courthouse in Viera.Cocoa's Caprellia Stewart, arrested on May 30 for her post promoting the burning of police vehicles, faces up to 20 years in prison. Her case is on call for a jury trial, but a specific date is not set.Antwan Yates of Melbourne, who posted about the courthouse, faces up to 5 years in prison. His next court date is April 28.
Meanwhile, a white Cape Canaveral man, Joseph Carfora, 30, who was arrested at the Cocoa march for justice wearing a steel-plated vest and carrying a semi-automatic rifle, 8-inch knife and several loaded magazines near the march, according to police, was charged with a misdemeanor and is a free man. Carfora'sFacebook profile indicated an association with the right-wing group seeking to start a race war,the Boogaloo movement.
Adjudication was withheld in the case pursuant to Carfora paying nearly $500 in fees and completing a gun safety course.
'Silencing speech is what communist regimes do'
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Florida’s lone statewide elected Democrat, ridiculed DeSantis and Republican leaders for embracing a measure she says defies free speech rights.
“Republicans love to talk about the constitution, but they’re shredding it with bills like House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 90 (a controversial elections overhaul). Silencing speech and blocking the vote is whatcommunistregimes do. HB 1 should never have been signed,” said Fried, who is widely expected to challenge DeSantis in next year’s governor’s race.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida also said that the legislation, which cleared the House and Senate along partisan lines, criminalizes Floridians exercising their First Amendment rights.
A number of civil rights organizations have already said they will likely seek to have the new law blocked by courts on constitutional grounds. The legislation was among the most controversial bills going before the Legislature, drawing dozens of opponents at every committee stop – while few Floridians stepped forward to speak in favor of the change.
“Economists have warned that the bill will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, creating new jail beds in a mass incarceration system that is already over-bloated and on the brink of collapse,” said Mikah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
“It makes no effort to heighten penalties for driving cars into protesters, rather it shields violent counter-protesters from civil liability if they injure or kill a protester or demonstrator,” he added. “The bill also protects shrines to white supremacy with enhanced charges for damaging Confederate monuments or the Confederate flag.”
Ledger reporter Kimberly C. Moore can be reached atkmoore@theledger.comor 863-802-7514. Follow her on Twitter at @KMooreTheLedger.
