Judge orders cops in Ferguson to stop enforcing 'five-second rule'
A federal judge in St. Louis has ordered police to stop using a keep-moving rule against protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.
In a decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said the rule likely violates due-process and First Amendment rights and enjoined its enforcement, report USA Today and Courthouse News Service. She added, however, that her preliminary injunction does not bar officers from requiring crowds to disperse if they are assembled for violence or rioting.
The American Civil Liberties Union had dubbed the ad hoc requirement a “five-second” rule in its legal challenge because police were arresting protesters who lingered in one spot for more than five seconds.
Police learned about the unofficial rule during roll calls and applied it on an ad hoc basis, Perry said.
“Some officers told everyone to keep moving, so if plaintiff was unlucky enough to be standing in the vicinity of those officers, he would be told to move,” Perry wrote. “Some officers told people they would be arrested if they did not move, but at least one officer told people that they had to keep moving but probably would not be arrested if they failed to comply. Some officers interpreted the policy to mean that people had to walk at a certain speed, others told people that they could not walk back and forth in a certain-sized area. Some officers applied it to members of the press, while others did not. …. The rule provided no notice to citizens of what conduct was unlawful, and its enforcement was entirely arbitrary and left to the unfettered discretion of the officers on the street.”
