MESA, Ariz. — The Mesa City Council has introduced an ordinance that prohibits citizens from interfering or hindering with a police officer's duties.
Mesa police claim it has experienced a rise in police interference in recent years, including incidents of people filming officers up close.
As a result, the city is planning to revise Mesa's codes to conform with other Valley cities that have regulations outlawing police interference.
The ordinance prohibits citizens from obstructing an officer from carrying out their duties, as well as forces citizens to comply with "lawful orders" issued by an officer.
Anyone who violates the new code could be charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor, which can result in a $500 fine.
The purpose of the ordinance is to "protect the safety of police officers" and "the integrity of police investigations while still allowing for expression of constitutionally-protected rights," city records state.
Passage of the Mesa ordinance has come shortly after the courts struck down a controversial state law that prohibited citizens from filming police officers up close.
In the last session, Arizona lawmakers passed a bill that criminalizes the filming of police officers within a distance of eight feet. The ACLU sued the state, arguing the new law would violate the constitutional rights of citizens and the courts stopped it from going into effect.
12News was one of the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit attempting to thwart that state law.
Mesa officials say its ordinance still protects the rights of residents and its parameters are broader than the recent "police-filming" law, records show.
The language of the ordinance specifically states that "words and recording alone do not constitute hindering, resisting, delaying, obstructing or preventing official duties of a peace officer."
The ordinance has been set on the council's meeting agenda for Nov. 21.
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