

Police Must Respect the Right of Citizens to Record Them - CapitalistCartr
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/police-must-respect-right-citizens-record-them

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wwweston
”While an officer surely cannot issue a ‘move on’ order to a person because he
is recording, the police may order bystanders to disperse for reasons related
to public safety and order and other legitimate law enforcement needs.”

Hmm. That looks like a loophole the size of "stop resisting" or "I feared for
my life."

I'd be willing to bet that the future holds a notable number of court cases
which will turn on the question of whether an officer was justified in
requesting dispersement for "public safety reasons"... maybe even as standard
operating procedure.

Still, this is an improvement.

~~~
scott_karana
If your video proves that the circumstances don't warrant "public safety"
concerns, that could be overturned. ;)

~~~
pavel_lishin
Please make sure your device is uploading the video as you record it before
you try to make a court case out of yourself.

It's no fun spending a night in the drunk tank only to discover that your
phone was mysteriously wiped in the night.

~~~
scott_karana
I actually meant "if told to leave the scene while recording, make sure to
record the request and then comply", which wouldn't normally be a circumstance
where you'd be arrested.

You're certainly right about uploading as you record wherever possible though.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I can't cite the exact case, but I think there's been at least one case where
someone did that and were still arrested, because they didn't comply with the
implicit request - "stop filming me, citizen" \- quickly enough.

I could be wrong, and this might be a memory I made up. :/

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ende
Im just kinda musing out loud here but I wonder if there is any synergy to be
had between the right to record police and the need for grand jury reform wrt
police prosecution. The two causes could reinforce each other. Also reminds me
of a lyric:

In Orwell's hell A terror error coming through But this Little Brother Is
watching you too

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ianstallings
The police have to know they can't win this battle and should throw in the
towel and capitulate. Particularly when live broadcasting services are taking
off.

~~~
pXMzR2A
> The police have to know they can't win this battle and should throw in the
> towel and capitulate.

The police has already won this battle; that is why this EFF page exists.

In the last decade or so, the police has successfully and powerfully
militarized itself, became (again[1]) progressively more violent, began
(again[1]) handling protests and dissent more and more harshly. They won this
battle, partially with the help of the congress and the intelligentsia, which
imported the policies that were being applied abroad (again), and they will do
their best to win the next one --the one where they need to be put back to
their place (of "a good cop does not enforce the law, s/he serves the
people").

Looking at the current political atmosphere, where no real choice exists and
politics is but money laundering, they will most probably succeed in winning
that war too (again[1]).

\----

[1] Just a reference to the Black Rights Movement in 1960s and the society's
failure to change the institution (the police) successfully consequently,
specifically during the 1970s.

