Posted on 03/14/2017 4:57:12 PM PDT by gopno1
A North Carolina police department is conducting an internal investigation after an officer was caught on camera incorrectly telling an Uber driver that it's illegal to record a traffic stop.
Jesse Bright, a defense attorney who also works as an Uber driver, was stopped in Wilmington on Feb. 26 after he brought a customer to what officers described as a "known drug house." Bright explained he was an Uber driver and that he didn't know the passenger. But one officer could be heard on the tape telling Bright to turn off his cell phone video recorder, then threaten to take him to jail if he refused.
"For recording you? I'm sitting in my car," Bright responded, prompting the officer to call him a "jerk" for questioning which law he was violating by recording. Bright explained that he's an attorney who knows his rights. "And an Uber driver?" the officer responded skeptically. Bright then offered up his state bar ID as proof.
The officers eventually called in a K-9 unit to thoroughly search Bright's car, but nothing was found and no arrest was made. The department says the officer was clearly incorrect and that citizens are allowed to take pictures or video of a traffic stop.
Bright said he does not want either of the officers to lose their job, but wants citizens to know their rights. He said he is worried that officers are giving citizens unlawful orders that are followed because people don't know any better.
"If he’s willing to just directly lie to me and tell me this is against the law to film the police, then it worries me. You know, most people when they’re given an order by an officer they don’t know that it’s an unlawful order," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.foxnews.com ...
It is hard to enforce your rights when you do not know the law.
Good for these stories to get out there. They make it more likely that police will think twice about making stuff up.
Cops don’t know laws?
Who’d have thunk that?
Situations like this and road rage are exactly why I have a dash cam.
Good report, gopno1.
I guess most officers take so much guff, and are on the edge because they could be attacked any second, might tend to overreact at times.
If the report was accurate, it sounds like the Uber driver wasn’t trying to be a wise guy, but was being respectful.
I am thankful for our cops, but wouldn’t want to be one. It can be a pretty thankless line of work.
It's not the questionable searches that bother me. It's the planted evidence.
...an officer was caught on camera incorrectly telling an Uber driver that it’s illegal to record a traffic stop....
I believe it’s called lying.
Sometimes not, and sometimes they know the laws and just lie about them or make some up. There's no penalty, really.
> Cops don’t know laws? <
I suspect that they DO know the law, but are running a bluff.
Scrotus didn’t help stating that cops don’t have to know the laws they are apparently enforcing, either. Now they can either outright lie, and also be genuinely incorrect about the law, and they are untouchable.
And look at whst the cop did after the guy showed his legal credential.
Out of spite he had a k9 unit tear apart the car.
This guy had a camera and it did not help him.
I had an out of control cop bark at me once telling me “you need to” do so and so.
I looked at his badge and name, and asked him to clarify. “Are you ordering me to” do so and so?
He backed off and then said he thought I should do what he was suggesting.
Fortunately I had just spoken to an attorney who told me what a police officer should and should not tell me to do.
On the other hand, it is usually better to cooperate with police as much as is possible. They have a tough job and never know if someone might, at any moment, take an action that is life threatening. Just routine traffic stops are very dangerous.
Many do not. There are lots of affirmative action and quota hires that could not pass the tests with a certain level minimum score.
It shouldn’t be hard to beat this cop in court.
There’s a reason you need to pass a bar exam to be a lawyer. Based on the recruits coming out of Academies these days (Yes I’ve seen them - pants hanging down below their waist and all) it’s definitely not surprising to see them allowing martinet clowns with huge ego’s making all kinds of things up in order to get away with what they can.
This is how cops in Mexico operate. We’re there almost unfortunately.
One time a family member got wrongly cited for a traffic violation. The posted speed limit was different on one side of an undivided highway than the other. He did a U-turn and wrote a ticket based on the wrong speed limit.
I documented this with photos and video which we presented to the court.
The cop contradicted himself under oath to the point that the DA turned and looked at him skeptically and asked if he wanted to change his testimony.
This stuff often just gets rubber stamped by the courts because they don’t have enough time in the day to get through it all.
Yup manymcops today are tsa ie glorified baggage handlers with a fairy wand waived over them to make them “officers”.
Well .. I know that in some jurisdictions, if a person has been told they are under arrest; they can no longer be taking pictures of the officers.
And .. in other jurisdictions, if you have told a person they are under arrest; an officer is allowed to tell untruths to the arrested person.
Just the same as when a person is being interviewed for possible connection to a crime at a police station; there is no obligation of the police to be truthful to the person being interviewed.
We may hot like it .. but it’s usually for the purpose of getting the interviewee to admit to complicity in a crime, or knowing of criminal activity.
Yeah cops are so stressed out from harassing the average citizen rather than going after the known criminals. Let’s give them all a paid vacation. I don’t like cops or the political wing they work for. I think they hide from their duty to protect and serve by tax and harass.
I don’t need them following me in their cars. They should turn away after 1 block.
Cops enjoy the freedom of speech we are entitled to. Cops and any government agent can and will lie more often than holding to truth. They are encouraged to do so. I use a pocket camera pen. 2hours of high quality video and audio.
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