You can't record as a bystander within 8' of law enforcement activity, defined as "QUESTIONING A SUSPICIOUS PERSON.
33 2. CONDUCTING AN ARREST, ISSUING A SUMMONS OR ENFORCING THE LAW.
34 3. HANDLING AN EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED OR DISORDERLY PERSON WHO IS
35 EXHIBITING ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR. "
If you're the subject of activity, e.g. they deem you as a suspicious person and move towards you, you may record.
> If you're the subject of activity, e.g. they deem you as a suspicious person and move towards you, you may record.
You may record, but you will not be able to after they handcuff you. So, they'll claim they were establishing a perimeter for the initial activity, that you refused to move away or stop filming from that perimeter, making your recording up to that point illegal, and then they'll detain you for this offense, handcuffing you to prevent you from filming.
Or they'll just take your phone under civil asset forfeiture laws, as it was involved in illegal activity (filming a police officer from too close by).
That would be a pretty extreme escalation of civil asset forfeiture. I understand that you distrust the police. You have reason to. But resorting to hyperbole diminishes your argument.
Arizona has somewhat decent civil forfeiture protections: civil forfeiture laws require a crime to take place for permanent forfeiture.
So this law puts the wheels in motion for lawful seizure of these phones.
You won't find much recent prior seizures in Arizona because Arizona cops can't fulfill a lawful seizure without a crime, and prior to now recording a public official performing their duty was basically never a criminal act.
Yes, I'm aware that it protects the subject of the investigation -- they can still record when the officer moves closer than 8', but it does not protect bystanders. This is a clear, and obviously intentional, loophole that allows police to criminalize something they don't like.
If this was actually about the safety of officers, there would be no need to mention recording -- they would simply limit all bystanders from being within 8' of such activity whether they're recording or not. Since it is about recording, we know it is just about recording, and not actual officer safety.
