Filming Police

[Pete]

We have numbers of threads around here where police try and stop, do stop, arrest people and seize they property because the citizen was filming them.

"Landmark Settlement Reached In Preakness Arrest Case"

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/0...s-arrest-case/

'...Now, four years and an ACLU-backed lawsuit later, city police agreed to a sweeping settlement: money to Sharp and his attorneys, a formal written apology from the police commissioner and, most importantly, a new department policy spelling out expectations of city officers being recorded..."

This is Baltimore and adds to a few other cases here and there but still many don't get it.

[mark46th]

Out here in SOCal, some Los Angeles PD are wearing video cameras on their uniforms to record everything that happens during their shift. It is an experimental program, privately financed. So far, the officers are happy with the program, saying the cameras help defuse possible conflicts.

[tonyz]

A victory for 1st Amendment advocates.

The filming of encounters tends to keep both citizens and law enforcement on better behavior.

A small win for both.

[RichL025]

Speaking as someone who was wrongly arrested, and almost couldn't join the army, due to an asshole cop, I very much appreciate the idea that the courts are holding that public servants can be videotaped in their performance of their duties...

The taper had better not _interfere_ in any way in police operations, but if they do not, then the cops absolutely better respect the citizen's rights to do that.

I'm sure no one here really thinks Rodney King was the first miscreant who had the stuffings beaten out of him by LA's finest.... he was just the first that happened to be taped....

This movement is win-win - good cops wearing personal video recorders will be protected against spurious claims of abuse, and bad cops will have to think twice when they know they are on film....

[kgoerz]

I did a few years as a Cop/Agent. It's an incredible amount of power dropped in someones lap when they receive a badge. Most don't know what to do with this new power.
I don't exactly know why. But douche bags in general seem to be attracted to the police force. Every organization has it's bad apples. Met plenty of POS Green Berets in my life. But with the police it's actually common. So having Cops on video as much as possible is a good thing these days.

[TacOfficer]

In my experience, video taken by citizens when presented as evidence of officer misconduct has always been edited to show only the police response to action taken by the offender(s). I have yet to see an offender's video of what precipitated the response to the offender's actions. When the citizens record police it is a 1st amendment right, but when the police record citizen's actions, police are violating their 4th amendment rights, really?. Cameras are to criminals as lights are to roaches, when they turn on, they both scatter.

I myself prefer video/audio, it justifies police response. If there's a COMPLETE video, I'll place my bets with the police.

Btw, Rodney King was a great example of such editing. That POS did get his justice, he OD'ed and died drowning in his own pool penny-less.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/us/rodney-king-autopsy/.
Thanks for the reference.