>>..and by 'crime' I mean felony, punishable by up to four years in prison!
>>
>>http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senate-passes-bill-making-harassment-police-officer-crime
>>
>>This goes in my "really stupid" pile. So.... if a cop decides that you've "annoyed" him - you get 5 years in jail? WTF kind of crap is that!!!??
>>
>>I can already see what is going to happen. A cop is going to get "annoyed" that someone filmed them beating the crap out of innocent person and the guy shooting the video is gonna get 5 years in prison for "annoying" the cop.
>
>The headline is misleading. First, existing harassment laws already include "annoy" in their text, they then go on to define the term. 2nd, It specifically elevates physical harassment on a police officer from a misdemeanor covered under 240.30 to a class E felony. In the new section, "aggravated" harassment involves physical contact with the officer. It makes it a class E felony which is the same level as existing hate crime law sec 240.31 and throwing bodily fluids on prison guards 240.32.
>
>Here are the existing relevant sections. 240.30-2
>http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article240.htm#p240.30
>
>Here is the relevant text of the proposed amendment. Sec 240.33
>http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S2402-2013
>PERSON IS GUILTY OF AGGRAVATED HARASSMENT OF A POLICE OFFICER OR PEACE OFFICER WHEN, WITH THE INTENT TO HARASS, ANNOY, THREATEN OR ALARM A PERSON WHOM HE OR SHE KNOWS OR REASONABLY SHOULD KNOW TO BE A POLICE OFFICER OR PEACE OFFICER ENGAGED IN THE COURSE OF PERFORMING HIS OR HER OFFICIAL DUTIES, HE OR SHE STRIKES, SHOVES, KICKS OR OTHERWISE SUBJECTS SUCH PERSON TO PHYSICAL CONTACT.
>


That is assault and is covered in other regulations.