Posted on 02/25/2011 11:11:08 AM PST by lbryce
For the second time in less than a year, Weare police have charged someone with felony wiretapping for recording police activity.
William Alleman, 51, of 140 Helen Dearborn Road, was charged Tuesday with interception of oral communication prohibited, which is the state's felony wiretapping law RSA 570-A
Police Chief Gregory Begin released few details of the case when reached for comment Thursday. The charges stem from a July 10 traffic stop, Begin said.
"He was making an audio recording of the officer during a motor vehicle stop without getting consent of the officer," Begin said.
Alleman said the charge is based on a cell phone call he made as an officer approached his vehicle.
Police considered it wiretapping because the call was being recorded by a voice mail service without the officer's consent.
Attorney Seth Hipple, of the Martin and Hipple law office, is representing Alleman as well as Carla Gericke and William Rodriguez, who were arrested on the same charge in March 2010 after Gericke began videotaping a police traffic stop. Their charges were later dropped.
"This is another example of the Weare police arresting people for recording public officials doing the public's duties in public," Hipple said.
Alleman said the incident began after he left a gathering to support Palmer's Tavern owner George Hodgdon, whose arrest days earlier for interfering with an assault investigation caused many to publicly criticize the Weare police.
Alleman said he was followed by a police officer when he left the gathering, attended mostly by members of the libertarian activist group, the Free State Project.
Alleman said he supports the group's cause but is not a member.
Alleman said he made a cell phone call as Officer Brian Montplaisir approached his vehicle.
(Excerpt) Read more at unionleader.com ...
The balls on these cops.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I’m thinking they’re quite a different organ.
It would be great if we could know what state this was in. Or how about a country? Could you tell us what country this is in? Pretty please?
In this particular instance it seems self serving by the ostensible servants of the government. I could see if you were expected to keep such a recording confidential except to present it in court as evidence or share it with your attorney. But this is jackbootism.
The “felonyness” only adds insult to injury.
New Hampster
An educated guess is Weare, New Hampshire. (It is annoying how so many online rags don’t state their locale on their home page.)
This is, I believe, near Nashua which is known for its, ahem, gaiety. At least the paper is from Nashua.
State legislators need to be contacted and laws passed.
Every government agent, when representing himself as such,
must be individually identifiable,
must allow recording of his actions, both audio and video,
and should be subject to disciplinary action and criminal liability for thwarting either identification or recording.
I was on a business trip to Concord, NH about 8 years ago. I didn’t get to my hotel until late and I was downtown (on a week night) at around midnight looking for a place to eat. 2/3 of the cars on the road and in convenience store parking lots were cop cars. I’ve never seen such a concentration in my life.
That's why posters need to put the state in the keywords section.
And let’s not forget that if you DO get pickup on, say, a DUI, you can post bail on the change in your ashtray, if not have the judge cut you R-O-R outright.
Take it to court and kick their butt!
They roll dash cams without YOUR consent!
They have to look busy & ‘on the job’ ya know. Anything open all night draws ‘em like flies esp places that have doughnuts and/or sugary drinks.
At one of the gun clubs I was a member of they used to allow the local PD to do quals & practice at the indoor range. The cops demanded exclusive access which meant members had to forego for an entire w/e sometimes more depending on the event. Eventually the club got tired of repairing the roof and asked the PD to find another venue. What is it about police work that draws Barney Fife types?
Cell phones are considered wireless wires, for the purpose of the law.
Not true. They almost always end well for the police. The officers in question are never charged, fined, or sued. The TAXPAYERS get it in the shorts when these go to court, but nothing ever (one or two rare instances where this was not true come to mind, but statistically speaking there are no consequences to police) happens to the police involved
>>What is it about police work that draws Barney Fife types?<<
It is a great way for an “outcast” to get “authority”. It was what sucked in a lot of brownshirts to the Nazi party. I consider modern cops to be either idiots or brownshirts. Or they just couldn’t find any other job.
I think I knew the defense attorney growing up - if so he is a hard working homeschooled conservative who will fight for this guy and others.
Of course. That makes perfect sense. I knew it was a stupid question.
Why not also consider the police car to be a court house, and consider the policeman to be a fully robed judge? The cruiser's glove compartment could be considered the judge's chambers. That would make sense too, wouldn't it?
And then he was stopped, and then arrested for recording a public servant performing his duties in a public setting? Harrassment, violation of civil rights, nail this jackboot to the wall!
LOL, I always thought it had something to do w/ size of a particular part of the anatomy coupled w/ an inferiority complex. Frankly, the majority of cops aren’t suited to the job mentally and/or physically. Their bad and sometimes criminal behavior is enabled by town councils and state legislatures. At least in NH if half disappeared overnight the only way you’d (eventually) figure it out is by a surplus of $ in the towns payroll acct.
Weare, NH is correct.
However, The Union Leader is a conservative newspaper from Manchester, NH.
Keep in mind that most of these small town cops did not graduate at the top of the police academy. The smart cops end up working for the state police , then the bigger cities like Manchester, Nashua ,Portsmouth or Concord and then the richer towns like Hollis, Bedford, Rye, Windham and Amherst. If he ended up working in Weare, he is probably not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Your point being?
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