Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Arrests for videotaping police on the rise

I thought that the whole Rodney King fiasco was an example of why people's videos can be taken out of context or blown out of proportion (was all the mayhem and additional death a "proportional response"?)
Still, if the cops can video us without our permission, we should be able to reciprocate.
Law enforcement insists that conversations with people stopped by police are considered "private" even in public and therefore protected.
Sorry but in my book that only works if a third party does the recording without yours or the cop's permission..
Who hasn't heard of a case where a judge sided with a cop over a civilian where there wasn't clear evidence of the cop being wrong (or lying)?
More and more police are utilizing video to protect themselves from false claims and to prosecute people that otherwise may lie their way out of a fine or jail.
We "the people" should be able to show our side of it too but, as Anthony Graber found in Maryland found, you can be arrested in some states for recording people without permission.
Graber was speeding and doing wheelies on his motorcycle and was then cut off and accosted by a gun wielding plainclothes cop.
Like any self respecting narcissist, Graber had his helmet cam running so he could thrill people with his daring-do.
He posted the video on You Tube a week later and the cops hauled him off for illegal taping.
The usually odious ACLU gets it right when they defend folks like this.

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