Posted on 06/14/2007 8:40:57 AM PDT by BGHater
I do. The civilian was found guilty of Illegal Wiretapping and was sent to prison. This was in 1999.
For daring to record what police were doing. After all if video evidence of interactions with police was common, the police couold no longer routinely lie to get convictions and will have to stick to the truth - a major blow to law enforcement and government in general.
Nah it was the cop who initiated this. You can have all the stupid laws on the books, but it takes a moron with a gun and a badge to enforce them. That’s were the rubber meets the road. Despotic cops=despotic state.
I understand what you are saying, but the law(s) was/were not originally created to stop people from recording LEOs. Most cases prosecuted don’t even involve any government actor. I’m just trying to understand the mindset of those in State legislatures who decided recording someone without their knowledge and consent rises to the level of a criminal tort which must be punished with(or up to) a lengthy prison sentence. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Seems like a clear civil case or tort to me.
People working for governments do not normally have a reasonable expectation of privacy while doing that work. They work for the public, thus what they do is open to scrutiny. Possible exceptions are attorney/client priveledge and closed door meetings, restrooms etc. Whoever started this crap was an idiot. The government works for the people not the other way around. Sometimes they need to be reminded of that simple fact.
Most laws don't make any sense to me. In fact government is making less sense all the time.
This is obviously NOT the view of the government and it bureaucrats - armed and otherwise.
That’s one really really dumb cop. He is going to lose, bigtime.
Time to change the law. The traffic system is already more one-sided than the criminal system, with the government having a conflict of interest - the government sets the speed limits, sets the fines, and is allowed to profit from the fines from which police officers and the judges are paid and squad cars are purchased! The least that should be done is to pass a law that clearly allows citizens to tape the police during their official duties.
Yes, but only if your tape contains AUDIO as well as video.
ping
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