Interesting topic raised in yesterday's 8am 2302. We were discussing how easy it is now to record things through cell phones and a student remarked that an officer who pulled her and a friend over got touchy when it occurred to him that they could be recording him.
Did they have the right to do so?
I mentioned that - as best I know - this is an unresolved issue. If I recall, yes they can be recorded, but no court has yet to defend that right. Police tend to consider recordings as interferences, and make arrests on that basis. It would be a great test case.
Any takers?
I have a standing policy that any student who starts a dispute that ends up in the Supreme Court gets an A for the class.
Here's a thought though. If you are indeed arrested for recording the police and taken to jail, the Supreme Court has ruled that you can be stripped searched even though what you did in no way demonstrates probable cause that you are a violent person. So might you be reluctant to do so now?
Here are more thoughtful comments on the issue:
- Reversing Big Brother: Videotaping and Recording On-Duty Police Officers.
- Your right to record
- Rochester Woman Arrested After Videotaping Police From Her Own Front Yard
- First Circuit Court of Appeals Rules that Citizens Can Videotape Police
- Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police
- But for (Deleted) Video
