Civil Disobedience: Record Your Police at Work

Illinois is one of only 3 states in the US where it is ILLEGAL to record the actions of PUBLIC EMPLOYEES acting under the color of law at taxpayer expense.

Summed up at the gizmodo website:

a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer.

Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists.

The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which all parties must consent for a recording to be legal unless, as with TV news crews, it is obvious to all that recording is underway. Since the police do not consent, the camera-wielder can be arrested. Most all-party-consent states also include an exception for recording in public places where "no expectation of privacy exists" (Illinois does not) but in practice this exception is not being recognized."

We must fight this tooth and claw. We have seen too many abuses. In the city where I live, with a population of less than 30,000 - like most cities in Illinois - the expectation of justice is low. We currently have 2 pending federal lawsuits against our local police department. Most cities in this state should be so lucky - it is one strategy that at least will force the local gendarmes to act with in the rule of law so than can make a respectable presentation of their policies and procedures in front on a judge and jury.

The ACLU has recently defended photographers in Pennsylvannia when the police tried them on wiretapping charges - for recording public acts under the color of law at taxpayer expense. They prevailed because Pennsylvannia has not the gall to specifically make sucj recording illegal!

Time to get your cell phones, cameras and video recorders busy, and create your own version of COPS!

Make it real folks, we are the people, the people who pay their luxurious salaries, benefits and million dollar retirements.

David Roknich

Galesburg, Illinois

http://dogspot.us