The impetus for this post comes from this article. It seems many states have enacted laws making this illegal, leading to arrest.
1) Security cameras are everywhere. Many police departments have cameras on their dashboards.
2) In general, there may be a tendency to believe the officer of the law than the average fellow, especially someone with less-than-stellar credentials.
Those two things said, if someone sees a cop abusing someone, or breaking the law in some way, they should be able to record it. How can something be proven when it’s your word against theirs? If somebody claims brutality but there’s no way to prove it, it’ll get thrown out. It’s also possible that in some cases multiple officers can be up to no good.
I’m really not a revolutionary when it comes to these types of things, and am usually fairly conservative, but I think it’s important to be able to film the people whose job it is to protect us.
Of course, don’t be aggressive. That’s not acceptable. If you’re in an officer’s face, it’s going to be viewed as threatening, as it should be. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be allowed to record something if it’s going to be used for violence or terrorism.
To flatly rule it out makes it seem like there’s a lot to hide, and that’s bad business.
Avi's Cogitations 