(The Center Square) – The Arizona Senate passed a bill that punishes people who unlawfully help others avoid arrest.
Senators last week voted 17 to 13, along party lines, in favor of Senate Bill 1635.
SB 1635 creates a criminal penalty for people who warn others that police will arrest them. They could face a Class 1 misdemeanor charge, which could result in up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said the “lawless chaos” seen in places like Minneapolis, where “people were harassing” U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents who were “enforcing the law,” inspired him to introduce the bill.
“If someone is actively helping a suspect dodge arrest, that is not free speech. That is obstruction,” Kavanagh told The Center Square.
“This bill makes it clear that intentionally tipping off criminals during an ongoing arrest effort has consequences,” he added. “We stand with law enforcement, not with those trying to undermine them.”
Kavanagh said he found Arizona laws previously did not cover incidents in which a person warns another person of “an impending arrest.”
SB 1635 states a person commits a crime if he or she “knowingly communicates” to a specific person that law enforcement is coming to make an arrest of that individual, solely to help the person avoid arrest.
The bill defines “communicates” as an electronic communication, gesture, verbal statement, bells, whistles or written message.
SB 1635 does not apply to an attorney giving legal advice, a person providing information in response to a lawful request from police, a person lacking knowledge about the situation or a person not intending to obstruct law enforcement.
According to Kavanagh, this law would apply when a person notifies another individual that he or she is about to be arrested by law enforcement before police take the person into custody.
He said this does not apply to someone who calls an individual on the phone to give a warning. Rather, it would apply to someone running into a house before the police arrive to notify a person.
The senator said his bill does not apply to people who yell outside on a public street that law enforcement is here. He added that it does not apply to people who post about law enforcement being in their neighborhood. He said both these examples are protected under the First Amendment.
“People are allowed to yell and announce general police activity outside. The key being it’s general, and it’s outside and not specifically directed at a particular person,” he explained.
Kavanagh told The Center Square that “people are purposely misrepresenting” the bill by saying the bill applies to “general warnings.” He noted general warnings are safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution.
