From the American Civil Liberties Union of PA (http://www.aclupa.org):
We are in a fierce struggle now to stop House Bill 27, the police secrecy bill, in order to protect transparency and accountability in policing. Governor Wolf agrees with us that hiding the identity of public employees who seriously injure or kill someone is no way to run a transparent government. He vetoed this bill last year. A handful of state senators agreed with us last session, but we need more this time.
The best thing you can do right now to stop the police secrecy bill is call your state senator and tell them to vote “no” on HB 27. You can find your state senator’s contact information at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address. And you can find more information about HB 27 on our website.
The message here is simple: Police officers are public employees to whom we give a great deal of power. With that power comes the responsibility to be transparent and accountable to the public.
A democratic society starts to lose its moorings when police can kill in secret.
And frankly, local officials already have the power to hide an officer’s identity if they think it’s necessary for safety reasons. This is a decision to be made at the local level, based on circumstances in the community, not by politicians in Harrisburg.
Your state senator needs to get the message: Vote “NO” on House Bill 27.
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