New York buffer zone law would let police arrest people who get too close
Police officers, firefighters and EMS workers from across New York are calling on state lawmakers to support a buffer zone law that would prevent the public from getting too close and interfering with their work, or risk getting arrested.
Dozens of members of the New York State Public Safety Alliance gathered at New York City Hall on Thursday to announce their push to create a 15-foot safety buffer zone around first responders.
The law would open the door for people to be charged with a Class B misdemeanor for refusing to leave the buffer zone or intentionally interfering with, threatening or harassing a first responder. It would be punishable by three months in jail and/or a $500 fine.
The legislation stems from February's snowball incident that injured two NYPD officers in Washington Square Park, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani dismissed as just good fun.
"That's where it all begins. If you have no respect for policing, throwing snowballs in their face ... that's not helping matters here. That's disrespecting police," said Scott Munro, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association.
"We're not punching bags"
Munro is part of the group calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature to pass the bill. The group also wants to repeal an ordinance that allows member of the public to obtain cops' personal information, including where they live.
"We are not punching bags. We're here to protect, to serve, to risk our lives, not to risk our families' lives. But that's what's happening. We're being threatened, our families are being threatened, it needs to end," said Louis Civello, Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association president.
NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said lawmakers should "not jump on the bandwagon for a kinder, gentler version of the Trump administration's authoritarian campaign against dissent."
"At a moment when the federal government is targeting, arresting, and even killing ordinary citizens for protest, state lawmakers must stand up for New York values and defend the First Amendment," Lieberman said.
Can it pass?
New York would not be the first state to enact a buffer zone. Eight other states already have them or are considering them.
The New York State Public Safety Alliance and their families represent a block of about 500,000 voters. But it's hard to tell if the bill can pass, especially since this is an election year for Hochul and others.
