An Oregon bill preventing Antifa mug shots from going public went into effect Jan 1, providing cover for lawbreakers and rioters.
HB 3273 prohibits law enforcement agencies from releasing booking photos to the public or the media unless the release serves “a law enforcement purpose,” notwithstanding Oregon Revised Statute 192.314, according to which “every person has a right to inspect any public record of a public body in this state.”
According to the text of the bill, mugshots can be released to assist in “the apprehension of a fugitive or a suspect in a criminal investigation” or “upon the conviction of the person depicted in the booking photo.”
The bill was introduced and passed in response to the viral Twitter journalism of The Post Millenial Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo, who posted numerous mugshots of violent rioters arrested during and after the BLM-Antifa riots in Oregon.
Ngo, author of Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy, noted its coming into effect and pointed out that “Antifa & Leftist accounts have been celebrating.”
In reaction to me releasing mugshots of criminal suspects arrested at violent BLM-Antifa riots after George Floyd died, Oregon Democrat lawmakers pushed through a bill banning the release of mugshots starting on 1 January, 2022. #Antifa & leftist accounts have been celebrating. pic.twitter.com/eYo9VZCBdt
— Andy Ngô ?️? (@MrAndyNgo) January 3, 2022
Bill sponsor Sen. James Manning told KDRV in June that “a photo can ruin your life” and that “disproportionately, those who are picked up by law enforcement are BIPOC Oregonians.”
The Mail Tribune reported Dec. 30 that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office had already complied with the new law.
Also going into effect Jan. 1 was HB 2986, which calls for all police officers in the state of Oregon to be trained to “investigate, identify and report crimes motivated by prejudice based on the perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, political affiliation or beliefs.”
