Police fight cellphone recordings

[Tracer]

Source: Boston Globe

Simon Glik, a lawyer, was walking down Tremont Street in Boston when he saw three police officers struggling to extract a plastic bag from a teenager’s mouth. Thinking their force seemed excessive for a drug arrest, Glik pulled out his cellphone and began recording.

Within minutes, Glik said, he was in handcuffs.

“One of the officers asked me whether my phone had audio recording capabilities,’’ Glik, 33, said recently of the incident, which took place in October 2007. Glik acknowledged that it did, and then, he said, “my phone was seized, and I was arrested.’’

The charge? Illegal electronic surveillance.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/12/police_fight_cellphone_recordings/

[sui generis]

1. It would only be illegal if it intruded on a residence or place of business

Once again a dumbass cop trumps up a charge to defend an irrational action.

When the law abuses the law to enforce the law, it makes the law meaningless. When will they learn?

[Tesha]

2. Thanks to the ACLU, this didn't hold up.

The key was that recording was made openly.

This is just police trying to avoid having their bad behavior documented.
Don't put up with it!

Tesha

[scubadude]

3. Then in these 12 states the Police must not be allowed to use dashboard recorders?

In their strict interpretation of the law wouldn't dashboard recorders be illegal because the party being recorded hasn't given consent to the recording? Wouldn't dashboard recordings be in inadmissible in court?

Scuba

[Tesha]

5. They tend to not be "audio" recordings, just video.

And the wiretap statutes that the police keep pinning
their hopes upon only relate to audio recordings where
both parties haven't given permission for the recording
to take place.

Tesha

[scubadude]

7. So then the key is to turn the sound volume down max while recording these types of things.

Yes, I know it's a hassle and may take time, but if you do it then there is no reason why you couldn't record the abuse. Something to remember.

Thanks for the explanation,

Scuba

[Tesha]

8. I don't think you can easily set a cell phone to record just video.

And the cops will arrest you anway -- the point is to
harass you into being afraid to record them at all, not
to enforce the letter of the law.

Tesha

[NJmaverick]

4. Very interesting article, I highly suggest reading the whole thing

while it's clear the police are not following the spirit of the law in some cases they have won because MA has a poorly written law. The lawmakers need to revisit this issue and fix the law. Otherwise good people can be arrested.

[Hepburn]

6. Conduct done in public....

...there is no expectation of privacy.

The cops were on the street, in the open...end of discussion IMO.

[Tesha]

9. Right. And that's why, if you're openly recording them, the case will get tossed out.

But in the meantime, they successfully harassed you
and cost you time, trouble, and money.

It's the same reason why cops arrest protesters even
when they know the charges won't stick -- at least they
got you off of "their" streets for 48 hours!

Tesha

[Hepburn]

10. I agree ~~ it's all about harassment. n/t

[ixion]

11. Illegal electronic surveillance... oh the irony

So those doing the spying don't like to be spied on... imagine that. :eyes:

[L0oniX]

12. Another reason to hate cops.

[Goldstein1984]

13. Highly Recommended Reading on this general subject...

"Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent" by Harvey A. Silvergate

An Amazon.com reader review: "This book was recommended by a Federal Judge at a conference on ethics. It is a scary, insightful indictment of criminal prosecutions and the growing trend of prosecutors and judges encroaching on the legislative branch's power to enact laws through manipulation and overreaching interpretations of vague federal laws. It is not only a MUST read, but it is a MUST act upon as well."

Personal Anecdote: When my son was twelve, he was contacted as a witness to an act of vandalism. Because the suspect was a lifelong friend, he said he would rather not be involved. The Alaska State Trooper immediately became aggressive and told my son he would charge him with hindering an investigation and recommend that he be tried as an adult if he didn't cooperate. I intervened and said, "What I think my son meant to say was, he was in the area, but was distracted by a flock of Bohemian Waxwings and can't offer any useful information." My son, always quick on the draw, jumped in and said, "When I see Bohemian Waxwings, the world stops." The officer said he would be back, but never returned.

This is why those of us who can afford to should be supporting NGOs that promote civil liberties and speak truth to power.

[FlyByNight]

14. I get it, "Do as I say..."

This kind of irony gives me a headache.

[ectoendomezo]

15. So..'Fusion Centers' illegal? Also.."OUT" em!

"Secret tape recording by private individuals has been unequivocally banned, and, unless and until the Legislature changes the statute, what was done here cannot be done lawfully,..."

This makes..NO sense! So...there are NO 'Fusion Centers' or 'INFRAGARD' "Programs" in Mass.? Really? Sure! Right! Whatever!

"Fusion Centers" are DIABOLICAL in terms of Illegal surveillance of Citizens..I am continually SHOCKED at the brazenness of the "Fusion Center" Rationale and their STUPEFYINGLY Obvious FISA End Run tactic of making the 'Police' into 'ASSETS'.

To Wit:

CIA/DHS Spokesperson: "Oh..No! WE don't actually COLLECT any Intelligence..we do not CONDUCT any Surveillance...THAT would be ILLEGAL under FISA..so we just..ANALYZE what is brought to us by "State and Local Authorities"..so..its OKAY!"

Yeah! THAT is Literally..their rationale..I kid you not..it is that..openly arrogant toward our Civil Liberties..AND..Apparently..to these "Two Party Consent" laws. Its just a blatant..'We can do ANYTHING we want...and if you don't LIKE it..well..SUE US! If you CAN...what, with...National Security n' all!'

So..HOW do these even..FURTHER..displays of Authoritarian Hubris..of "Friendly Fascism"..No 'CAMPS'...but should you even SQUEAK out the tiniest bit of EFFECTIVE 'Protest'..we'll ARREST YOU! And VIDEO is Effective FOR protest...so..HOW do these display's of 'Abuse Of Authority'...reamin "Acceptable" for the GOVERNMENT..but NOT for the Citizenry? I mean..THAT is really..a BIG issue frankly..this is our Government TELLING us "We can Watch YOU..but NO ONE better even TRY to WATCH THE WATCHERS!"

Let me ask y'all..WHAT do you think would happen..IF say..I..or YOU..were to BUY and FLY your OWn little Remote Control Camera on a Copter deal..and actually RECORD the comings and goings of POLICE in THEIR 'Private Lives'..as they ARE doing right now..under the guise of multiple excuses..Predator 'Drones' are about to begin to 'Patrol' the PAcific Coastline..they ALREADY 'Patrol' the Eastern Seaboard..SO..how is THAT.."Accomodating" "TWO PARTY CONSENT"? How? Its AMAZING folks..it really is.

Also, I'm no Hunter..but I AM A 'Gun Owner' AND a Liberal..AND a Progressive..AND..this really shows me the reality within the 'Question' 'Would they ever try to Take The Guns?' Of COURSE they would..if they felt even REMOTELY 'Threatened'..just LOOK..and this is a CEL PHONE! So..the Authorities...CAN as of now..be COUNTED upon to do anything they wish...to create as UN-LEVEL a 'Playing Field' as they possibly can!

I mean this actually..in a weird but direct manner..is an ADMISSION by Police Departments that conduct this kind of abuse..that they ARE..IN FACT...Guilty as Sin! Or WHY bother? Hey! If the Recordings provided for a possible 'Exoneration'..then HUP! they'd be suing to obtain them FOR use in Court..so this is really..the Police ADMITTING: "Yeah! We are Beating and Abusing this persons rights..and IF this evidence is made public in Court..it WILL prove that we conducted ourselves as THUGS and Petty Tin Horn Bullies...so..we will go to Embarrassing lengths to..make SURE this never see's the light of Due Process.."

"OUT THEM!"

Look..folks..another thing I MAY have missed on Page 3..is that there are NO NAMEs of the Pigs that are 'In Question'.

Now..the "Reason" that I say this is because ONE METHOD..of REDUCING this trend of Ever more RAPID and 'ENHANCED'...MILITARIZATION OF SOCIAL POLICIES...is to.."OUT" the Individuals who are taking advantage of this climate of fear and minimal attention spans to ABUSE and BULLY and generally push America toward some kind of Low Brow-Drooler-Masturbator-Thugrunt-Authoritarian-GovCorp regime! Just.."OUT" them..make their NAMES..and their FACES..and their Bullying Sociopathic Mindset..KNOWN to the public at LARGE as well as the LOCAL public..

In THIS manner..when these Pig Men and other escapees from the Island Of Dr. Moreau BY WAY of Tobacco Road....in this manner they will be forced to make a CHOICE:

Be KNOWN as a Thug and a BULLY..and see your kid be NOT invited to Birthday parties etc..and be "Looked At" at the grocery store..and KNOW that the people around you KNOW that you are a BULLY with a BADGE..or a cubical dwelling snitch..etc..etc..basically..THAT YOU CANNOT BE TRUSTED with the AUTHORITY you have been GRANTED! Also..this way..when they DO make the news..it "ADDS UP"..people are AWARE of the "Oh! THAT guy again..he is COSTING the City and the County and the STAE...its limited and much needed FUNDS..so..eighty-six the fool before he costs us our Budget in LAwsuits and Costs us our Summer TOURISM dollars...

"OUT" em folks...just.."OUT" em right into the Sun...because obviously these are VAMPIRIC Individuals...Afraid of the light of Exposure...

So..NAMES PLEASE!..WHO..ARE..THESE...THUGS?

[ectoendomezo]

16. Weaponizing The Budget..BLOWBACK..Asymetrical Terrorism!

Sorry..more...

I forgot to mention an INTENSELY EFFECTIVE "Counter Measure" for the Citizenry...Especially...in a "Recession"/Depression!

the "BUDGET"...yeah the local "Treasure"..the Moo-la..the State, County and City BUDGET PROCESS..

See..there is a Mortal Fatal Flaw inherent to the concept of a 'Capitalist Country' turning into a Semi-Fascist or even Flat out Authoritarian Government..is MONEY! I mean hey! IF people could actually unite for 10 minutes and conduct a UNION style Tax Protest! Well..CHANGE would be virtually overnight..Hey! No MONEY? No Bailout! No Wars for OIL! No Nuthin! HOWEVER..since that is NOT going to happen..sadly..we MUST turn to our LOCAL 'Budgets' for CONTROL of the 'Policies' that allow ALL of the Surveillance State mechanisms to flourish..if the POLICE in YOUR Town..are not ALLOWED to conduct certain kinds of actions, responses..etc..well..than in order DO do the prohibited activities..the 'Officer' or 'Agent' must FIRST..Violate their Oath..which is meaningless..thus the added benefit of..THEY DON'T GET PAID! Etc..Etc..Punitive Measures..or the BUDGET SUFFERS!

I ask you THIS: Do you REALLY believe that YOU and your fellow citizens in ANY part of America will FOREGO..'Water, Power, Sewer Etc..' for..."SECURITY"? No! They'll say..YOU'LL say.."We MUST have our Infrastructure..we cannot LIVE without This..and This..and This! However...I guess we CAN live without all the LAWSUITS and SETTLEMENTS..and INSURANCE premiums based UPON those lawsuits.. AKA-the enormous COST of allowing our Police to DO..That and That..and That!

So..'SUE EM!'..Every time they 'Break the Rules'..SUE EM! Also...get your INSURANCE rep involved..I know a 'Farmer' here in Northern California, that grew SO..tired of having idiots in helicopters flying over his Property WEEKLY..for 4 months out of EVERY Summer/Fall season...ILLEGALLY "Low" and just simply IGNORING his complaints..and even insinuating "harm" might come to him..well..he FOUND a WAY..using MONEY..the ONLY weapon we actually HAVE..He went and Bought several 'Ostriches'..he then INSURED them with a Powerful insurance Company..now..to THIS DAY..if they were to fly over his house..it DISTURBS..and it really does..his Birds..and that disturbs their 'Production'..which he then Complains about to his INSURER...and THEY..then COMPLAIN to the Sheriff Department..and THAT...was the END..of the Flight path over HIS HOUSE!

MONEY! "Weaponize" the Budget for your OWN defense! Another thing that works AMAZINGLY well..is to write lettters..AND get others to write..BASICALLY..just outright..up-front..'Telling'..your local City Council..or Supervisor..or even Congressional "Representative" that you ABSOILUTELY...withoiut HESITATION..Will SUE..and will KEEP on doing whatever legal action you can..IF..the City/County ALLOWS for "Fusion Centers" or "INFRAGARD" programs to be implemented...this is really effective..for one main reason..the COUNCIL and Political Folks at the LOCAL LEVEL..Red or Blue..KNOW..how bad it is..they..KNOW that the threat of losing MILLIONS in court costs over YEARS..is ONE IDIOT COP or Abuse of a Citizen away from becoming a reality..and they have..NO..Money to play with right now..NONE! Zip! Doodah! Nada! So this is a VERY real threat..especially if you include a few choice examples...the right Lawsuit could EMPTY a towns budget...it is that simple! So..they have an..'Incentive' to REMOVE 'Problem Officers' AND to actually UPHOLD their OATH..for once! "Public Servants"!

We..must TRY to view this as what it is--SELF-DEFENSE--against the further development and 'Deployment' of MILITARIZED social policies..AND the Bureaucracies that COVER-UP corruption and ABUSE!..The Paramilitary aspect of the 'Police' is..c'mon..we all know it!..OUT of CONTROL! Its really bad..and..its gonna get ALLOT worse! No one is really talking...YET..about "BLOWBACK"..and it's gonna be...savage...SAVAGE!

See..folks..we are gonna begin..have already begun..to see the Returning Vets from Iraq and Afghanistan...join 'Local law Enforcement' as well as ALL other 'Agencies'.

Let me put it THIS way; Do YOU..really want to be stopped at 3AM by an UNDIAGNOSED PTSD Case?..Divorced!..Angry!...And...most importantly...'Trained' to be a Border Line SOCIOPATH!..An individual that..has this enormous Paramilitary and HOSTILE Bureaucracy to hide and defend his lethal mindset...and individual that has been..literally..'RE-WIRED' for Action and Killing..creating an actual "Jones" that MUST be satisfied..

Now..AGAIN I ask you..do you REALLY want a "Former" Blackwater thug, or GUANTANAMO Guard, or DEATH SQUAD member..to be the one to do a Traffic Stop on YOUR Smart Mouth Kid? Or your WIFE? Or Daughter? at 3AM? Or..to have a run-in with one of these psycho's at ANY time? Oh yeah..and with a GUN AND A BADGE? And a Hostile..Arrogant..EXTREMELY Dysfunctional Bureaucracy..just LOOKING for further Confrontation with the Public! You Really Want to let that happen?

Its ALREADY happening...these individuals have been "Conditioned" to view the 'Citizen' as a 'Threat'..and CONDITIONED to ASSUME that nothing will happen if you just...Murder them..period! THAT is the REALITY! Its happening EVERY DAY in Iraq and Afghanistan..and MANY of them WILL return..and MANY of them will seek jobs that continue to fulfill that NEED...that JONES..for the "High" of a Gun Fight..or of Deadly Force...Life/Death Action. Hey! I Admit..Once you've been all Spun Up to that extent..it is pretty much all down hill from there..NOTHING will put you in 'That Place' like a Bullet sizzling past yer noggin! Nothing. So..they'll get..FRUSTRATED! And YOU'LL be nothing more than a POTENTIAL.."VICTIM"..waiting to come in direct contact wit one of these..."Soldierpolice"

Advocate a 3 Year MORATORIUM on AL Hiring of vets for 'Law Enforcement Jobs' at ANY level..This is NOT 'Discrimination' this is a 'COOLING OFF PERIOD!' How can anyone NOT understand that making SURE..as SURE as we CAN BE..that someone imbued with THAT amount of PURE...Lethal Authority..is NOT a 'Ticking Time Bomb' of Sociopathic Violence. I mean..Right? That seems very fair to me..they didn't HAVE to go to 'The Wars'..there's NO DRAFT! So..this is ONE "Cost" of CHOOSING to go and mess up your mind for LIFE..and "We" the People..should NOT..have to simply 'Wait N' See' what happens..No! The 'Candidate' is the one who should 'Wait'..

Add to this ENHANCED PSYCHE EVAL. For Vets. entering "Law Enforcement" AND..MOST IMPORTANTLY..ACTUAL..'FER REALS'.."TRANSPARENCY" REGARDING THEIR 'MILITARY ACTIVITIES'! If there is member of a Blackwater(Xe) "Assassination Team" no looking to become the local 'Cop''..it CANNOT be allowed to walk the streets with a GUN and a BADGE..same for the "Interrogators"..because some poor sap is GONNA get TORTURED ina Drunk tank..if we allow these individuals to infest 'law enforcement'

Okay..all of this is..in my opinion...this Program of abuse by the police..from the use of 'Sound Cannons' at the Pittsburgh G-20 protests..to the 'Arrest' of Bob Dylan for 'Looking At Houses' without his "papers"..is "ASYMMETRICAL TERRORISM"..By the Police..Against the Citizenry! Sound paranoid? Well..what is it then? People ARE beginning to 'Self Censor'..to WATCH eachother..to REPORT eachother..out of FEAR..and FRUSTRATION..and STUPIDITY...and just basic Hostility..to "Stick to the other guy.." This is because they are being Driven Mad by th 'Authorities'..MAKING them so afraid..so..angry..that they react with rage..that they accept any effort at 'Control' or Surveillance!

How anyone could possibly argue that the Authorities are NOT using Violence and Intimidation..Coercion and Torture...to COW the American Public..is beyond me!

"FEAR!" Its Whats For Dinner!

[pinniped]

17. This asshat probably wanted to upload it to youtube.

.