DeSantis signs 'halo bill' aimed at protecting first responders at active scenes

TAMPA - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in Saint Augustine on Friday signing bills having to do with protecting law-enforcement officers, including a law that makes it a crime to approach first responders on an active scene if told not to.

It’s dubbed the "halo bill" by law enforcement, and it will make it illegal to come within 25 feet of first responders.

One police officer in the Bay Area tells me this is to prevent distractions, or having crowds getting in the way of law enforcement when doing their job in stressful situations.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signs two bills into law protecting first responders and law enforcement.

"Having to deal with a high stress environment, and then adding to that, a potential crowd of people getting so close to you where you have to divert your attention from the person that you really need to be paying attention to -- the suspect, the arrested individual -- and now you have to divert all of that to the crowd… that's a huge officer safety concern," said Jon Vazquez, President of Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association and St. Pete Police officer.

But prominent groups like the NAACP are speaking out against the bill, saying this prevents bystanders from recording officers and holding them accountable.

"It was about accountability, it was about asking questions, and hopefully law enforcement would understand these questions aren’t meant to harm [them] but change [their] mindset. My concern is that it opens the door for us to be vulnerable to law enforcement," Yvette Lewis, President of NAACP Hillsborough, said.

READ: DeSantis signs bill blocking civilian review boards from investigating law enforcement in Florida

The ACLU has also opposed these bills, saying in part: "At a time where society’s perception of law enforcement varies widely, not surprising due to the lived experiences of marginalized communities, improving public sentiment of law enforcement should be a top priority."

Governor DeSantis speaks in St. Augustine

But Officer Jon Vazquez tells FOX 13 this bill won’t prevent accountability of law enforcement officers.

"To the naysayers or to the people that think it's an accountability issue, I can tell you the agency that I work for, every officer has a body camera and any time we make contact with a subject or a suspect, our body cameras must be on. And not only our body cameras-- but usually the car cameras," said Vazquez.

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2025.

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