REMINDER: You have the right to record the police

[davidn3600]

A suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, has been under a dramatic siege since Saturday, when a police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown. In the wake of the killing, protests have engulfed the community — drawing a heavy-handed police crackdown with St. Louis County police officers armed with assault weapons and outfitted with military equipment. Many of the striking images have come from reporters on the front lines, but also from citizens and their smartphones.

Around 10 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night, a St. Louis County police line demanded that a crowd of protesters turn off their cameras. Minutes earlier, the police had ordered what appeared to be a peaceful crowd to disperse, firing smoke grenades and rubber bullets. But none of them have to turn their cameras off.

Here’s the deal: As a U.S. citizen, you have the right to record the police in the course of their public duties. The police don’t have a right to stop you as long as you’re not interfering with their work. They also don’t have a right to confiscate your phone or camera, or delete its contents, just because you were recording them.

Despite some state laws that make it illegal to record others without their consent, federal courts have held consistently that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their official duties in public. The Supreme Court also recently affirmed that the Fourth Amendment, protecting citizens from arbitrary searches and seizures, means that police need to “get a warrant” if they want to take your cellphone. (The ACLU has a concise guide to your rights, here.) And the U.S. Department of Justice under President Obama has affirmed the court’s stances by reminding police departments that they’re not allowed to harass citizens for recording them.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/reminder-you-have-a-right-to-record-the-police-94721403794.html

Now this doesn't mean they won't try to intimidate you. But you have the constitutional rights, recognized by the federal courts, to record the police in their duties as long as you are peacefully observing and not interfering.

[Skidmore]

1. Pushback hopefully starts in all communities that

have been intimidated by their law enforcement departments and the politicians who turn blind eyes. This should be a wake up call all around. Accountability and transparency must be demanded.

[sakabatou]

2. I bet they'll try and take away the device as well.

Possibly destroying evidence.

[BainsBane]

3. It's actually illegal is some places

There was a guy facing some absurd amount of prison time for recording cops with his cell phone.

[geomon666]

6. It is not illegal anywhere in the US. n/t

[VScott]

4. As long as its done "openly and not surreptitiously"

at least in two party consent states...

A number of states do bar people from recording private conversations without consent. But as long as the recording is made "openly and not surreptitiously," said Osterreicher, it's fair game. According to Osterreicher, "assuming the position of holding up a camera or phone at arm’s length while looking at the viewing screen should be enough to put someone on notice that they are being photographed or recorded."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/filming-police-officers_n_5676940.html

[niyad]

5. it is far past time to remind these militarized thugs that they WORK FOR US. we pay their damned

salaries. if they don't understand "to protect and serve", perhaps they might understand "YOU ARE FIRED"

[Glassunion]

7. REMINDER: the police will bash your face for exercising your rights

Just sayin'