
EFF to Court: The First Amendment Protects the Right to Record First Responders - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/eff-court-first-amendment-protects-right-record-first-responders
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adekok
I have an engineering question: Is there any negative feedback for police who
violate peoples rights like this? I don't mean theoretically. I mean
practically, is there any negative feedback?

The reason this is an engineering question is I think we all know what happens
to control systems without negative feedback.

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alyandon
The only negative consequences are to the taxpayer that has to pay to settle
these things out of court. Would be nice if the arresting officers were held
financially liable to some degree and then you can bet they'd make a better
effort to be sure they were making lawful arrests.

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0x445442
This is an interesting thought. Like other professions which have license to
affect an individual physically, such as doctors, perhaps the first responders
should carry some type of "malpractice" malpractice insurance.

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Spivak
It's turtles all the way down though. If police need to carry malpractice
insurance then the cost will have to be built into salary which is paid by the
taxpayers. It might be cheaper to just have the state pay out then pay for a
bunch of individual insurance policies.

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codazoda
The only difference I can see is that, like your car policy, if you have to
pay a claim your rates go up. That would cause someone not to want a claim
filed against them because their salary goes down (assuming the department
doesn't just raise their salary to compensate). Still, I think you're right,
the tax costs would just go up.

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BoiledCabbage
Yes, but there is now incentive to weed out the few officers that are the
source of all the complaints. The ones that give good officers a bad name and
are a walking lawsuit waiting to happen.

Noone (neither police nor citizens) want them on the force as they make
everyone's life more difficult. But right now there is zero incentive to
remove them, and only a union fighting to back them no matter what.

I'm assuming if you have a stream of 20-30+ excessive force complaints against
you over the past two years, based on past behavior you are very likely to
have them in the future and be the cause of a terrible situation leading to a
lawsuit.

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aey
Donate to the EFF! They will send you an awesome hoodie

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1001101
... and you will get high fives everywhere you go in it.

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elorm
No one sees anything wrong with this ? What about the privacy of the victim?
I'm not sure I'd like my pictures or a video of me suffering/dying all over
the internet.

Is this not the same reason families ask for privacy when suicide/attempted
suicide victims are being attended to ?

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Mythanar
From the OP, this happened in the public place. There is no expectation of
privacy, nor should there be.

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quuquuquu
"Be American, get arrested."

It is truer and truer every day. I deliberately avoid a pathway or roadway if
I can see a police officer there.

These guys are overpaid, hyped-up, and ignorant of whatever law you cite when
they wrongfully arrest you.

The chief has their back, and suing them is expensive and risky.

Plus you are in prison until you are allowed to post bail.

To anyone who disagrees: 70% of prisoners are there for non-violent offences.

Just go on youtube and watch videos of the things that cops do.

Trust me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of state-legitimized
force. It hurts whether justified or not.

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justaman
Its actually really easy to not get arrested. You just need to follow the
general rule of not being a dumbass. You sound like one of these neo-marxist
jokes. What the police busted up your riot? Keep crying about how the police
are a problem and don't bother calling them when your car gets stolen or
someone breaks into your place. That'll work out for ya!

Yeah search youtube and pretend that's an actual sample that isn't bias.
Naturally people upload the fringe cases.

I am American. Treat the cop like a human and you will be surprised. Not all
cops are bad. Being a cop is basically agreeing to be terrified at all times
for a living.

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quuquuquu
When a cop kicks down your door to serve a warrant at the wrong address

throws a flash bang in your baby's crib

and arrests you for "possession of marijuana", but it's really just cut grass
from your landscaping job

then you can come tell me how patriotic and American you are.

Honestly I am trying my hardest to remain calm and professional when someone
like you attempts to prove how all cops are great and all suspected criminals
are scum.

Please try not to be so aggressively uninformed. Your tacit support of the
police is killing people.

[http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/05/baby-in-
coma-a...](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/05/baby-in-coma-after-
police-grenade-dropped-in-crib-during-drug-raid/)

[http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cops-mistake-tomato-
plan...](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cops-mistake-tomato-plants-pot-
article-1.1338781)

