Burns supports law enforcement, favors 30-day delay before releasing officer names in shooting incidents
Rep. Frank Burns March 23, 2017 | 9:01 AM
HARRISBURG, March 23 – Siding with the belief that their premature release could spur vigilante-style behavior and unfairly tarnish reputations, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, voted this week to temporarily delay divulging police officer names in shooting or serious injury cases.
Burns voted in favor of H.B. 27, which would create a 30-day cooling off period before the names of any law enforcement officers involved in a firearm-discharge or use-of-force incident while on duty could be publicly released.
However, under the legislation supported by Burns, the names could be released sooner, provided the official investigation into such an incident is concluded.
“In these inflammatory times, we’ve seen one too many cases where a partial video, lying witnesses or incomplete information prompt a social media rush to judgement, which is disproven once all the facts are in,” Burns said. “If our legal motto is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, that right must extend to members of law enforcement.”
Burns last year voted in favor of an identical bill (H.B. 1538), which passed the House 151-32 and also passed the Senate, only to be vetoed by the governor. This time around, he co-sponsored H.B. 27 even though it was introduced by a Republican, and the measure passed the House with even more support, 157-39.
“It’s no secret that opposition to this bill is coming mostly from big-city legislators,” Burns said. “As the founder of the House’s Blue Lives Matter Caucus and the author of my own bill to make assaulting a law enforcement officer a hate crime, I believe this cooling-off period is prudent.”
Burns said while he supports transparency in government, there are reasonable exceptions in current state law, such as the ability to redact Social Security numbers and other personal identifiers, and for information to be withheld until the conclusion of a criminal investigation.
Burns also noted that under H.B. 27, release of a law enforcement officer’s name may be made at any time if the officer provides written consent.