Posted on 09/06/2011 9:34:11 AM PDT by markomalley
I was watching Stossel on the Fox Business Channel recently. Hosted by investigative reporter John Stossel, the shows theme Privacy Or Secrecy looked at issues relating to the perception societys losing their rights to privacy. From smartphone technology tracking your every move and data mining of personal information from Internet sites, to a movement making the personal information public about legal gun owners. The segment, Who Watches The Watchmen caught my eye because it dealt with the subject of whether it should be illegal for citizens to record cops in public.
The debate over filming/recording cops in the performance of their duties has raged for decades and its reaching a fever pitch thanks to cell phone and pint-sized digital cameras and the ease of immediately posting images onto the internet. So whats the big deal? Are cameras now considered the new, great equalizers?
Arent we known for saying, If youve got nothing to hide, what are you worried about? This same mentality should also apply to us. If were doing our job professionally and within the law, whatve we got to worry about if someones filming us especially if theyre doing so without getting in our way? If we decide we dont like being filmed and take our attention away from what were doing, we are the ones delaying ourselves, not the person filming us. If the person is making snide comments, ignore it unless the comments are inciting a riot, but there again it will all be caught on film, right?
Should we ever expect to have a right to privacy when were in public? I dont think so; cops are public employees. We can record comments and statements made by suspects/arrestees sitting in the back of our police cars where theres no expectation of privacy. Thus, there should be an even lower standard of privacy outside the police car. We routinely record and surveil citizens without their permission, so why should there be a separate set of rules regarding them recording or filming us? If a bad guy doesnt have to consent to being filmed, cops shouldnt either. Should Internal Affairs be required to get consent to film or record from a cop suspected of criminal or unprofessional conduct?
Its my understanding wiretapping laws are being applied to such cases where citizens have been arrested for taping officers in the course of their duties. Some states, (Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia) are 2-party consent states, meaning both (or all) parties must consent before taping. Should this then make all cop surveillance taboo? How slippery of a slope does this need to be?
Law enforcement has been using dash-cams for years, and now recording devices are worn on an officers uniform think TASERs AXON or EHS VIDMIC. I dont know of any statutes declaring only the police are allowed to collect evidence and thats the purpose behind these devices. Theyre also used to mitigate liability in the event of a misconduct allegation, but its still evidence. Whats really disturbing is the officers who appear to be misbehaving are the ones reacting in outrage theyre being videotaped. Perhaps theres a lesson here?
I think back at the number of times I was made aware I was being taped and I cant recall ever giving a rats ass about it. I was also never hauled into IA to watch a video of me misbehaving either. So maybe those of us getting our skirts up over our heads about this should take a long hard look in the mirror before crying foul.
The reality is, cops have very public jobs, like it or not. Were expected to behave professionally even when faced with overwhelming challenges. The public generally knows weve got a tough job, but no one is forcing us to do it. Some people have an axe to grind with police tactics, theres no changing this mindset, and theyll do their best to catch us making mistakes, misbehaving, abusing our authority or losing control. It happens sometimes to the best of us. Its best to admit our mistakes and take our lumps.
Look at any of the silly reality cop shows on TV these days. Please tell me how dragging around a film crew is any different than what the average citizen is doing. Recording with high-end, professional cameras nets the same results as some guy with an iPhone or pocket video recorder. Its not reasonable to believe documenting police activity is only acceptable when it makes you look good. Celebrities put up with all the photographing and videotaping associated with their careers even when they may look like hell but its all part of their very public lives. Cops need to understand were not much different.
Dont do the crime, if you cant do the time, was a favorite saying of a TV show cop (Baretta) from the 1970s. I think its still valid today.
Thanks for this post.
Agree completely. By the way, Ohio is a single party state.
If you are recording a public, it makes no difference if you are in a one or two party state. It is always lawful.
Yesterday the NM cops used a photo of a uniformed officer servicing a woman in a reproductive way in order to fire him.
Why was THAT not wiretapping?
It wasn’t. And when we do it, it’s not, either.
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