
You Have a First Amendment Right to Record the Police - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/you-have-first-amendment-right-record-police
======
nappa-leon
The problem with this is that a policeman with a billy club who beats you
because you're recording him doesn't care about your rights and not get fired.
So be careful out there

~~~
wahern
I wonder, are there any apps that upload video in real-time?

~~~
colejohnson66
Facebook Live

~~~
wahern
I guess I should have been more clear: real-time but not live or automatically
published. If it's automatically published then many people may be reticent to
begin recording. For example, maybe you don't want the fact that your friend
or family member is being arrested to immediately become public knowledge or
otherwise shared, embarrassing video and all.[1][2] If in the end there's no
police misconduct, the whole incident can remain relatively private. Yet if it
turns out you're recording misconduct then it would be important that the
footage be uploaded in real-time in case the cop (or anybody else) destroys
your phone.

FWIW, I abstain from Facebook, Twitter, and social media in general. Apologies
if Facebook Live or any other suggestion does support this.

[1] I'm white but grew up in home environments where the police were called
many times, sometimes hauling someone away kicking and screaming. (Typical
unintended consequence of alcohol abuse and otherwise bad life decisions,
albeit all too common life decisions in poor America.) You have to be
sensitive to such situations, especially in the modern electronic era where
it's extremely difficult to escape past mistakes.

[2] The arrest could have been mistaken, in which case you _definitely_ don't
want a video of it getting out unless there was actual police misconduct or
possibly even _if_ there was police misconduct.

------
rasz
and Police has Qualified immunity to beat you senseless for it without
repercussions, your choice.

~~~
didgeoridoo
Qualified immunity is for civil repercussions, not criminal. Individual police
officers can go to jail for committing crimes in the line of duty. Any civil
lawsuits stemming from such acts, however, cannot be aimed at the individual
officer, but must instead be against the city/state/feds. I’m skeptical that
letting officers get sued for things they can already go to jail for would be
a major additional deterrent.

(To be clear, I’m in favor of ending qualified immunity in cases associated
with criminal acts, not because I think it will make things better, but
because it is fundamentally unjust for the taxpayers to be forced to cover the
bill for an individual officer’s illegal acts, when the officer — of all
people — should have known that the act was illegal)

~~~
sukilot
So if poor police officers abuse people, the victims don't get any
compensation? That's not good.

~~~
thephyber
I can't tell if you're trolling, but in case you're not, QI doesn't prevent
the victim from seeking restitution, it just puts an umbrella over the
officer's personal wealth by protecting it with the department/municipality's
wealth.

It's the worst part of what we complained about banks and bailouts in 2008+:
it socializes the costs and privatizes the profits/impunity.

------
Scarblac
As a non-American, this sounds bizarre. Yes of course free speech is
important, and being able to record the police is.

But how can recording something be considered speech?!

~~~
sukilot
It's not "considered speech".

1A says:

> Congress shall make no law [religion stuff]; or abridging the freedom of
> speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
> and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It's part of the overall combined notion of "speech, press, assembly, and
petition"

------
opwieurposiu
Defund the police. Force agents of the state to carry malpractice insuarance.

~~~
DarthGhandi
How exactly should society enforce laws with no police? Mob Justice?

~~~
wbronitsky
We seek to replace things that are not working all of the time. Sometimes it
takes more creative solutions, but usually we can fix systemic issues we have
created ourselves, as long as we have a little imagination.

Defunding the police would allow us to do things like fund more social workers
and non-armed, non-enforcement officers who can help people in crisis. It
would allow us to fund infrastructure for safer streets, classrooms and
highways. It would allow us to fund restorative justice programs, subsidize
housing for those who need help and make our society work for everyone. It
would allow us to fund drug treatment and education programs, fund school
lunches, and help create vocational training.

Fundamentally, defunding the police would allow us to actually identify the
problems that they solve, and eliminate those they create. The problems that
are left over can then be solved in different ways.

