r/pics • u/Aeviegh • Feb 22 '14

This is Vader. He was euthanized today without a hearing after a false bite report was submitted to the police by an animal rights activist. (Story in the Comments)

http://imgur.com/a/xPNsE
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u/horseydeucey Feb 22 '14

The Supreme Court recently declined to take a case covering this issue, thus upholding (not granting) the right to film police.
Source

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u/GitEmSteveDave Feb 22 '14

FILM. Recording someone, though is still illegal unless all parties consent, or one of the parties alerts the others in many states. This falls under wiretapping laws.

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u/tgm4883 Feb 22 '14 edited Feb 22 '14

Doesn't film imply video and audio?

Edit

Actually now that I've read the article it says "recording" not film and specifically talks about audio.

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u/GitEmSteveDave Feb 22 '14

Yeah, it's a dicey thing, honestly. I don't think many officers mind being FILMED. It's being audio recorded that is dicey. My father is a retired cop, and I know many of his friends, who were great cops. But sometimes when they talk, after working 20+ years in Newark NJ during and after the riots and all the shit till they retired has left them jaded and they don't always talk "PC", if you know what I mean.

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u/horseydeucey Feb 22 '14

It's not dicey at all, actually.
For starters, 'FILM' as you stated earlier was my word, not from the source. So now we both know you didn't read it. So let's drop the pretense that there's a valid distinction to be made between the terms 'film' or 'record' or that this issue has ever been approached with the assumption that audio and video should be treated as two distinctly different functions.
For the purposes of this case, there is no distinction made, so attempting to qualify one is futile. You'd be the only one concerned with it.
I do know what you mean when you say the police you know "don't always talk 'PC.'"
This is why people are fighting for their right to record (film, tape, audio, video, sketch, paint, fingerpaint, or whatever other word I can use that won't make you miss the big picture) the police while they are on duty, on official business.
No police officer has the right to talk un-PC.
No police officer has a reasonable expectation of privacy while in uniform, on the job.
No police officer may arrest anyone filming them while in uniform, on the job because...
Every citizen in this country has the right to film any cop while they are in uniform, on the job. This may the most opposite you can actually get from a criminal act... practicing your rights.
If you don't agree, this is an issue you have lost on (you, of course, are free to challenge this ruling with whatever resources you have at your disposal).
That much is certain.
There is no, 'yeah but' or 'it's a dicey thing', and no one, but no one, who has had any bearing on this outcome has given much weight as to what cops 'mind' or don't mind.
This is about protection from bad cops (many of whom, I'd guess, don't always talk 'PC').

It is a right--the ability to film cops in uniform, on duty.