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Cyclist Arrested For Videotaping Cop During Red Light Stop
The Gothamist ^ | May 2, 2014 | Ben Yakas

Posted on 05/03/2014 7:10:46 AM PDT by Leaning Right

Photographing and videotaping anything in public view—including federal buildings and the police—is legal in NYC as long as the documentation does not impede any law enforcement activity. Nevertheless, plenty of people—including journalists—continue to be arrested and harassed by camera-shy NYPD officers.

- snip -

While in the back of the car, Paybarah (the arrestee) says he asked the officers why he was arrested for taking video. One officer responded memorably:

I was told by another officer while in the car that recording a police officer was illegal because people are using iPhones as guns and shooting cops through the camera lens.

(Excerpt) Read more at gothamist.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cellphone; donutwatch; iphone; newyorkcity; videotapingcops
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To: Leaning Right

>>cell phones as potential firearms.<<

Yes, the now-famous iPhone cameragun. Police have every reason to fear every PDA is in reality a gun that can shoot through the camera aperture.

It was just a question of time before cops caught up to this technology...


21 posted on 05/03/2014 7:39:41 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (Fight Tapinophobia in all its forms! Do not submit to arduus privilege.)
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To: Leaning Right

We need to outlaw cellphones. Or restrict them to 7 pictures.


22 posted on 05/03/2014 7:42:18 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn't become your biography, what good is)
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To: Sherman Logan

That was an interesting video. I have seen still pictures of .22 “cell phone” guns before, but I have never seen a video.

So where does that leave us? Should cops be allowed to treat every cell phone as a potential firearm? And I suppose you could easily convert an umbrella into a single shot shotgun. So how should cops treat umbrellas?


23 posted on 05/03/2014 7:42:27 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: Sherman Logan

Doesn’t exactly look like a smart phone, does it. And if the cops think cell phones are guns then perhaps they can arrest every one they see with one and arrest them for carrying a concealed weapon.

The cops use any excuse they want to take away our rights.


24 posted on 05/03/2014 7:44:20 AM PDT by shelterguy
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To: gitmo
We need to outlaw cellphones. Or restrict them to 7 pictures.

Now that was funny right there. Then again, you might just have given Mayor De Blasio an idea.

25 posted on 05/03/2014 7:45:29 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: driftdiver

USC 42 Section 1983 lawsuit


26 posted on 05/03/2014 7:47:29 AM PDT by magna carta
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To: driftdiver
Well... technically, they are but, since those who enforce the laws get the final say in who is and who is not in violation of said law the area becomes gray. keep in mind the Leona Helsmely quote, “laws are for little people”. She her undoing was not for what she did, but who she pissed off.

Under most circumstances, the police, selected minorities [read as those minorities who bring the Democrat votes], the police, and Democrat politicians are exempt from the law[s]. It is only when they incur the wrath of someone in a higher position of power that they are prosecuted. Then, the laws we have to obey are applied to them. But, in general, so long as they keep their masters happy, they are safe.

27 posted on 05/03/2014 7:51:11 AM PDT by sport
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To: shelterguy
Doesn’t exactly look like a smart phone, does it. And if the cops think cell phones are guns then perhaps they can arrest every one they see with one and arrest them for carrying a concealed weapon. The cops use any excuse they want to take away our rights.

The link said "collected via email circa 2002", and phones sure don't look like that anymore. You are spot on: someone found this article to concoct a new "reason" to stop the public from filming cops. I'll bet that Snopes page is making the rounds in cop circles from coast to coast. Sadly, our Supreme Court would find it plausible (I wonder how many SCOTUS judges have smartphones).
28 posted on 05/03/2014 7:53:51 AM PDT by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: Leaning Right

The problem here is not with the photography, but in being seen as photographing. The solution is to use a remote wire camera, which only presents a dime or less sized lens, attached by wire to the phone.

Add to that a transmission buffer, that while you are recording, sends blocks of data to a remote site, so even if they grab your camera, it continues to send blocks of data until it is turned off. To a safe place they cannot tamper with or erase.


29 posted on 05/03/2014 7:54:58 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
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To: Vaquero
recording a police officer was illegal because people are using iPhones as guns and shooting cops through the camera lens

Ahh yes, the ol everyone's guilty until proven innocent. I love that one and have that explicitly said to me by a jack boot. Sorry, cops deserve no quarter just because they're cops. These pigs should hang.

30 posted on 05/03/2014 8:12:19 AM PDT by SwankyC (Democrats and Republicans agree, govt coercion is OK if it fits your idea of whats OK)
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To: Leaning Right

Hey, I am presently walking with a cane, and there are plenty of examples of canes being modified to hole a sword or to fire shotgun shells.


31 posted on 05/03/2014 8:13:13 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: luvbach1

“If one goes to the stores that specialize in such items, one can buy a gun disguised as almost anything; therefore, the cops can challenge any object you point at them whether a camera or a roll of toilet paper.”

Does that mean that I can shoot the next cop who points a radar/LIDAR gun at my car? It MIGHT be a firearm.


32 posted on 05/03/2014 8:16:57 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: Leaning Right

“I was told by another officer while in the car that recording a police officer was illegal because people are using iPhones as guns and shooting cops through the camera lens.”

iPhones barely work as phones.


33 posted on 05/03/2014 8:18:21 AM PDT by FreedomGuru (Time for torches and pitchforks.)
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To: shelterguy

I don’t think it’s reasonable for cops to assume a phone contains a hidden gun. But it’s not unreasonable for them to examine a phone, or other stuff someone they have stopped might be carrying, for possible hidden weapons.

For example, there are a lot of belt buckle knives out there.

http://www.bowenknife.com/

I haven’t seen any smartphones that can fire bullets, but I don’t see any particular reason it should be impossible to build one. Though it probably would be a smartphone case with a concealed gun. I doubt it would be functional any longer as a phone.


34 posted on 05/03/2014 8:20:59 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Leaning Right

Why risk confiscation of your camera or arrest when cameras and recoding devices can easily be concealed? There are many eyeglass camera/ microphones on the market at reasonable prices.
I do understand that many want to assert their rights by openly taping police in public. So, the next time one of these incidents occurs, make sure that one individual has a concealed camera.


35 posted on 05/03/2014 8:24:49 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
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To: grumpygresh

No, have one annoying person with a phone, and another with a concealed recording system. Good distraction and confiscating the phone will make them overconfident.


36 posted on 05/03/2014 8:27:44 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: Sherman Logan

See post 32. This is going down a very dangerous road. Exactly how far do we really want to take “I though that they had a weapon”?


37 posted on 05/03/2014 8:30:00 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: Sherman Logan

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for cops to assume a phone contains a hidden gun.”

I agree with you. But there actually is a stun device that looks like a smart phone. It’s the “I-stun”. Then, there’s the credit card knife. Cops can sit around all day and think up very low probability threats as a justification to arrest or shoot you.

Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime. L. Beria, NKVD.


38 posted on 05/03/2014 8:31:49 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
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To: The Antiyuppie

Don’t disagree. But if the cops detain someone they have reason to believe is a dangerous person, it makes perfect sense for them search him thoroughly.

Not a random cyclist, pedestrian or motorist.


39 posted on 05/03/2014 8:40:01 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Leaning Right


The BBs you could fit in the very-skinny iPhone would have nothing on the ultimate secret weapon ... The SIX-FINGER, from Topper.
40 posted on 05/03/2014 8:53:08 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("I'm a Contra" -- President Ronald Reagan)
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