"You still get the 'when,' the 'where' and the 'how' if we know it — you just don't get the 'who,'" Bolton said. Last year, ProPublica analyzed an FBI report on over 12,000 police homicides from 1980-2012 and found that Black teenagers are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than White teenagers. “ People cannot believe in what they are not permitted to observe” 
 
 Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson went into hiding after he shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, in August, sparking nationwide protests. See also: 
 
 -Bill to Withhold Names of Officers Involved in Violent Incidents Advances in AZ House 
 
 -Arizona Senate Passes Bill to Delay Releasing Identities of Police Involved in Shootings 
 
 No supporters of the bill were present this morning, but in the past, they've argued that a "cooling off period" after a violent and controversial event will help protect police officers and their families. OUR VIEW: Police union's bill only feeds the rumor mill 
 
 Sponsored by Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, the bill would prohibit the release of officers' names in all deadly use of force incidents, including those in which the officer is killed. This past week, the House of Representatives passed an amended version of the bill requiring concealment for 60 days, but the problem remains the same. Worse, the House added language that would prohibit the release of any information, whenever "disciplinary action" is taken against a peace officer, that would identify the officer. Tellingly, the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys' Advisory Council and the Fraternal Order of the Police opposed SB 1300 for one reason or another. Arizona ACLU Executive Director, Alessandra Soler, called the bill "un-American" for "taking away the public's right to know." Under existing law, the presumption of prompt public access can be overcome upon a showing by police that disclosure would violate privacy, confidentiality or the best interests of the state.
– Darren Wilson went into hiding after shooting Michael Brown, and when a Phoenix cop killed an unarmed black man in December, police were afraid protesters would mob his home, NBC News reports. The latter never happened, but Arizona Rep. Steven Smith is sponsoring Senate Bill 1445, which would keep secret for 60 days the names of officers involved in shootings "that [result] in death or serious physical injury." "This is about protecting the welfare of an officer who is not a suspect," the director of the Arizona Police Association tells NBC. But critics say the law would undermine the tenuous relationship between police and community and possibly hide abuse or mistakes. "At a time when the entire country is raising legitimate questions about why so many black men are dying at the hands of police, the state of Arizona is … becoming less transparent," the director of the ACLU of Arizona tells NBC. An officer's name can still be released before the 60-day moratorium is up if the family or department OKs it, or if the officer is charged. And the bill has been amended from its original 90-day freeze—it passed in the House 44-13 last week and now heads back in amended form to the Senate, per the Eastern Arizona Courier. Protesters in the capital Wednesday refuted Smith's assertion that the law would stop a "whimsical mob [from] roaming the streets looking for blood" and noted there are already laws that allow for such secrecy if the officer is in danger, the Phoenix New Times reports. "This is being packaged as a cooling-off period; what many people in the community believe is this could build a covering-up period," Democratic state Rep. Reginald Bolding tells NBC. "The beauty of our Public Records Law is its reliance on common sense, not arbitrary prohibitions," adds David Bodney in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic.