Wiretapping and Recording the Police In Public Are Not The Same Thing

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From the Boston Globe...

This story is not just isolated to Massachusetts but is interesting in one respect. They have been arresting then convicting different people on wiretapping charges for recording the police in public. They also have been arresting people and not being able to convict them. The difference pointed on in the article is recording openly versus secret/hidden recording. I contend that as a police officer no expectation of privacy should be expected at ANY point in time!

Recording openly stands up better in court because of Mass’s two party consent wiretapping law. Two party consent is supposed to apply to conversations where an “expectation of privacy” is expected. This means on the telephone or a private dwelling etc. It that case both parties have to agree and you have to inform the other person you’re recording them.

This should not apply to police for two reasons. One, if police detain or pull you over they do so by force. I can’t just walk away aka hang of the phone and say hey I don’t want to be part of this conversation if I can’t record it. I could do that with any other person or vice versa. Two, their salaries are paid by tax dollars and the only way to *somewhat* protect against abuses is recording and spread of information. Also almost all interaction with police is done on public property paid for by public funds taken from everyone.

I should also note that any person including police should have no expectation of privacy on public property for any reason as if everyone has had to pay for it than anyone should be able to record on it. If you want privacy go to a private place where the rules are set like that.

A big thing I got from the article is the different choices people were making about recording. Do you openly record and risk them confiscating the camera and you not getting the footage and getting arrested quicker? Or do you secretly record and have a better chance of not getting arrester and maybe footage but less standing in court. I guess it demands on the situation and how many people you have. But for the most part I would say do both maybe open video and audio with secret audio as the backup

This is one of if not the most important issues of today as if this issue is lost a totalitarian state is surely much more imminent. I encourage everyone to do what they can activism wise to further camera/audio recording on public aka government property. Although not legally civil disobedience in all situations I think a fund to help reassure people they will have assistance if arrested or in jail etc. would be something I’d like to see.

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