Just the opposite. The cop has no clue whether or not the person is actually filming or not, no clue what the person intends to do with the video or audio, and

Just the opposite. The cop has no clue whether or not the person is actually filming or not, no clue what the person intends to do with the video or audio, and most importantly - has no involvement or control in either the recording, editing, licensing or distribution of the material. There's no way in high heaven that someone's going to be construed to be in violation of the 'distribution' artifact of copyright law if they have no participation or really even awareness of the distribution itself. This thread is full of absurd arguments.