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 Republican Governor Doug Ducey said the bill passed by state
lawmakers last week was well-intentioned but fell short of
protecting officers and their families.
Supporters of the bill had sought to shield officers from potential
death threats and harassment in the wake of several recent fatal
police shootings in Arizona and killings like those in Ferguson,
Missouri, that sparked nationwide protests.
"Unfortunately, I don't believe this bill in its current form best
achieves the objectives we share, and I worry it could result in
unforeseen problems," Ducey said in his veto letter.
Ducey, the son of a policeman, said the law would be too limiting
for police chiefs, adding that state public records law was
sufficient.
 The bill, which had been criticized by the Arizona police chiefs'
association, aimed to mandate a 60-day delay in release of the name
of an officer who used deadly physical force that resulted in either
death or serious physical injury.
The police chiefs' association said the bill, if passed, would have
undermined the authority of local law enforcement officials to
decide whether officers' names should be withheld.
The bill followed two fatal police shootings in Phoenix in which
officers' names were released within a week of the incidents. One
officer has since been cleared and the other case remains under
review.
Joe Clure, president of the roughly 10,000-member Arizona Police
Association, blasted the governor's decision to veto the bill,
alleging that it was influenced by politics.
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"We certainly have a governor who made it clear that the safety of
police officers and their families are not his number one priority,"
Clure told Reuters.
A Ducey spokesman denied the charge, reiterating that he is willing
to seek other remedies.
Civil rights groups also argued that the measure could hamper
relations with communities and interferes with the public's right to
know.
"This proposal would have taken Arizona in the wrong direction, by
exacerbating distrust between communities and the public safety
officers responsible for protecting them, while at the same time
eroding the transparency that is critical to our democracy,"
American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona executive director
Alessandra Soler said in a statement.
(Editing by Curtis Skinner and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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