"A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."
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"A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
If you happen to be a member of the press then yes you are protected by the 1st Amendment. I suppose you could seek protection by stating your filming was a pre-emptive way of safeguarding your ability to petition for governmental redress of grievances. However, I doubt they would buy filiming the cops as a kind of religious exercise or establishment. And you can certainly assemble peacefully without a camera. So I don't actually see how the first would protect your ability to film cops and under the law as it stands you could in fact be acting to obstruct the course of justice which is a criminal offense.
And it should be. I find it funny when they try to stop someone.:o
My little brother recently tipped me off to a new cell phone app the ACLU made. Here's the summary and the link:
Citizens can hold police accountable in the palms of their hands with "Police Tape," a smartphone application from the ACLU of New Jersey that allows people to securely and discreetly record and store interactions with police, as well as provide legal information about citizens' rights when interacting with the police. Thanks to the generosity of app developer OpenWatch, the ACLU-NJ is providing Police Tape to the public free of charge.
It then sends the video to the ACLU so the coppers can't delete evidence. If I had a smart phone I'd get this.
Full story here.
What I have to wonder is how a cop doesn't notice a person waving a smartphone around. I mean there is no way to be discreet about that.
This. Also, they won't let you touch your phone. It is for their "safety" so you don't call some goons to attack them. At least, that's what they like to claim.Quote:
Originally Posted by Esperahol
This is one of those gray area in which it is hard to form a black or white opinion. The best advice anyone can receive in such a matter is to know the law in their state, first and foremost.
Secondly, never put yourself in position where you can be perceived as obstructing justice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by code242
the courts have chimed in on this one, its LEGAL in any state in the USA
"A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."
the 2nd part is the not so black or white, that leaves the officer to decide(GREAT)
If its my legal right to film the police in public then why do they continue to be pompous A and confiscate people sell phones or tell them to stop filming because they will be subpoena in court. I think at the end of the day most officers would rather be above the law and have major issues when they can't be above or break the law.
They don't wanna be on camera. You gotta understand. Cops aren't serial killers. They can't dawn masks and coats and conceal their identities while they beat peple senseless, shoot them dead unjustifiably, or harass women who won't give them the time of day. If they're filmed doing this stuff, it puts them "out there". Someone could take a shot at them, harass their families, and plus it makes it hard to cook up a defense when you're on camera pounding some guy and your face is clear as day. Basically, they hate and try and confiscate your cameras because it takes away their anonymity. Just like if some punk on the internet was bashing people with cancer, and all of a sudden....his IP became public along with his photo. He'd be trying to track down anyone and everyone who saw him before word got out even further. When someone loses their anonymity...it makes them freak out.