>>>..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.
>>
>
>Senator Griffo said this:. “My bill would make it a crime to take any type of physical action to try to intimidate a police officer." ....soo seems like a cop could feel intimidated (or annoyed) if someone was taking the physical action of filming them.

Senator Griffo appears to be grandstanding a bit then. I posted the actual text of the legislation. The definition of "aggravated harassment" is copied verbatim from the existing misdemeanor and requires physical contact. Sec 240.30.3