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I don't live in the United States, but the LAST thing you want to do over there is to film an officer. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2008566,0

I don't live in the United States, but the LAST thing you want to do over there is to film an officer. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2008566,00.html http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2008566,00.ht... By the way, my father recalls from when my country was a dictatorship that "you couldn't take photos of police or military, or you were arrested". Democratic U.S.A. is doing the same..

llamataboot 13y ago
You may be harrassed if you film cops, but it is plainly legal[1], and the courts have recently begun to be more aggressive about slapping down municipalities that try to restrict it.[2] Normalizing it will go a long way to keeping police from thinking they can harass activist-types that are filming cops. I have been filming cops with copwatch groups from the days we had to carry big shoulder mounted video cameras. 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glik_v._Cunniffe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glik_v._Cunniffe 2) http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/05/7-rules-for-recording-police http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/05/7-rules-for-recording-...
- sophacles 13y ago
  Legality doesn't stop regular occurrences of filmers being arrested for "obstruction of justice".
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    Then get arrested. What ever happened to civil disobedience?
  - llamataboot 13y ago
    Like I said, I have filmed a lot of police interactions. I have been harassed many times, but never arrested. I /have/ been arrested for obstruction of legal process once. Ironically, it was a time when I wasn't filming and just standing off to the side taking notes. If you do get arrested, you can both win damages for yourself and often change the entire written rules of a police department by suing. But again, normalizing this will go a long way to people not getting harassed and cops knowing that they could be being filmes in any public interaction at any time.
    - sophacles 13y ago
      I am arguing only that you suggest harassment is the worst that will happen. There is much much much documentation that the worst is far worse than harassment. I am not disputing the potential (not at all as certain as you seem to think) of getting damages even. Merely that arrest and court is far beyond harassment. I agree with the normalizing of the circumstances aspect of your argument. Basically I am saying the fact that you haven't been arrested does not in any way (logically, evidentially or even anecdotally) suggest that this the case one should prepare for.
  - jcromartie 13y ago
    The fact that people get arrested for exercising their rights is a fantastic reason to exercise those same rights as often as possible. Would you have told civil rights protestors to stop sit-ins or marches?
    - sophacles 13y ago
      Arrested with potential consequences is not the same as the mere "harassment" claimed by the parent. This is the only point I was making. I think you misunderstood my intent.
jcromartie 13y ago
Thankfully those (grand jury...) charges were thrown out. The judge established, at least in Maryland, that police DO NOT have a reasonable right to privacy while carrying out their duties in public.

llamataboot 13y ago

You may be harrassed if you film cops, but it is plainly legal[1], and the courts have recently begun to be more aggressive about slapping down municipalities that try to restrict it.[2] Normalizing it will go a long way to keeping police from thinking they can harass activist-types that are filming cops. I have been filming cops with copwatch groups from the days we had to carry big shoulder mounted video cameras. 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glik_v._Cunniffe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glik_v._Cunniffe 2) http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/05/7-rules-for-recording-police http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/05/7-rules-for-recording-...

sophacles 13y ago
Legality doesn't stop regular occurrences of filmers being arrested for "obstruction of justice".
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Then get arrested. What ever happened to civil disobedience?
- llamataboot 13y ago
  Like I said, I have filmed a lot of police interactions. I have been harassed many times, but never arrested. I /have/ been arrested for obstruction of legal process once. Ironically, it was a time when I wasn't filming and just standing off to the side taking notes. If you do get arrested, you can both win damages for yourself and often change the entire written rules of a police department by suing. But again, normalizing this will go a long way to people not getting harassed and cops knowing that they could be being filmes in any public interaction at any time.
  - sophacles 13y ago
    I am arguing only that you suggest harassment is the worst that will happen. There is much much much documentation that the worst is far worse than harassment. I am not disputing the potential (not at all as certain as you seem to think) of getting damages even. Merely that arrest and court is far beyond harassment. I agree with the normalizing of the circumstances aspect of your argument. Basically I am saying the fact that you haven't been arrested does not in any way (logically, evidentially or even anecdotally) suggest that this the case one should prepare for.
- jcromartie 13y ago
  The fact that people get arrested for exercising their rights is a fantastic reason to exercise those same rights as often as possible. Would you have told civil rights protestors to stop sit-ins or marches?
  - sophacles 13y ago
    Arrested with potential consequences is not the same as the mere "harassment" claimed by the parent. This is the only point I was making. I think you misunderstood my intent.

jcromartie 13y ago

Thankfully those (grand jury...) charges were thrown out. The judge established, at least in Maryland, that police DO NOT have a reasonable right to privacy while carrying out their duties in public.