Kentucky bill would criminalize insulting a police officer

(Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

By Brian Brant

(FRANKFURT, Ky.) A bill moving through the Kentucky Senate, pushed by Republican lawmakers, would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer.

CBS News reports Senate Bill 211 would mandate up to three months in prison for a person who "accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words," or makes "gestures or other physical contact that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response from the perspective of a reasonable and prudent person."  

The legislation also pushes back against the "defund the police" movement, saying government entities must "maintain and improve their respective financial support" to fund law enforcement.

The bill, which could also punish someone with a $250 fine and a disqualification from public assistance benefits for three months as a misdemeanor charge, advanced through the Senate's Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee on Thursday in a 7-3 vote. It is expected to be passed in the Republican-led Senate and then the Republican-led House.

Supporters of the legislation say the bill targets people who might "cross the line" while opponents say it would violate citizens' First Amendment rights.

Republican Sen. David Carroll, the bill's lead sponsor, said the bill is in reponse to the protests due to the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in March 2020 by police during a raid by Louisville authorities.

"This country was built on lawful protest, and it's something that we must maintain — our citizens' right to do so," Carroll said, per the Courier-Journal. "What this deals with are those who cross the line and commit criminal acts."

The ACLU of Kentucky called the legislation "an extreme bill to stifle dissent" and said it would criminalize free speech.

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