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Thursday, January 12, 2012

DOJ Urges Federal Court To Protect The Right To Record Police


The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has urged a federal court to side with a Howard County man in a lawsuit over his cellphone being seized by Baltimore police at the Preakness Stakes after he filmed officers making an arrest.
The federal attorneys say the lawsuit “presents constitutional questions of great moment in this digital age.” They asked U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg to rule that citizens have a right to record police officers and that officers who seize and destroy recordings without a warrant or due process are violating the Fourth and 14th Amendments.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, which is representing the plaintiff, Christopher Sharp, said it believes this is the first time the Department of Justice has weighed in on the topic of recording police.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is already unconctitutional for them to take your phone without a warrant or reasonable suspicion of wrong doing. So not sure why it would be legal for the cop to just take the phone? There was a story posted yesterday where a cop was clearly recorded.

Anonymous said...

At an incident in DC not long ago a woman was recording the police in open public space when the officer took her phone. According to the DC police spokswoman it was perfectly lawful for the police to take her phone.