Is It Illegal To Record When "Dealing" With Them?"

[Rainman]

Say you are pulled over by and you whip out your phone, film the cop as s/he walks over and record everything else that follows, can police arrest you for doing that.

I ask the question because of this:

A policeman was making an arrest and upon realizing that a mob was recording the arrest . . . Texas Cops Arrest Man for Video Recording, Claiming They Needed Phone as "Evidence" - PINAC

In the video, a cop can be heard at :16 saying, “anybody who is recording, I’m going to need your cell phones as evidence.â€

Evidence? Why then demand that the video be deleted or the phone handed over?

That prompted another person recording, described as a 14-year-old boy on the initial Facebook video, to say, ‘I’m not deleting any video and I’m not giving you the phone.â€

And that prompted the cop, whose name is apparently Turner, to storm up to him.

“You give it me or I’ll arrest you too,†the cop told him

All this ended with the arrest of several people.

Question: is filming police "in action" now a crime?

 

[Gabe]

As long as you are not doing it secretly, then you are entitled to record an incident. Recently there are new laws that have been enacted to include phones are private property so police cannot look through your phone without a warrant. This is recent as the phone is considered similar to a diary or address book and cannot be accessed without permission. Again the local police force may not be up to date with the latest Supreme Court rulings, maybe each police force needs to subscribe online and get a weekly newsletter?

 

[Rainman]

Again the local police force may not be up to date with the latest Supreme Court rulings, maybe each police force needs to subscribe online and get a weekly newsletter?

I think that would be quite helpful. But I think police department heads ought to keep themselves abreast with any amendments of laws, the enactment of news ones, etc, etc and keep their officers informed about the changes.

 

[timelord731]

It seems like they are trying to cut down the liability factor by eliminating hard evidence.

 

[JoanMcWench]

It's not a crime to record crime or an officer for that matter. It is a slippery slop though depending on the officer you're dealing with. They can always pull something from their bum to justify confiscation. Sad truth of life.

 

[Rosyrain]

I don't think there is anything necessary illegal about filming the event because each of us in America has the right to free speech, but do you really want to make an officer mad when you are in trouble for something or have been pulled over? It just seems to me that the police officer would dig for something to arrest you for, or would not let you off on something that he or she was going to, to begin with. There have been a couple instances where I was speeding and did not get a ticket, but was let off on a warning. If I had video taped the encounter and made the officer mad, I probably would have received a big fat ticket to pay. Sometimes it is better to leave well enough alone.