A good deal of the footage coming out Ferguson, Missouri, this week has been provided by non-journalists, using their phones to record and photograph events. At the same time, reports claim that police are attempting to block both ordinary citizens and journalists from documenting the situation. What these officers either don’t know or aren’t saying is that you have the legal right to photograph the police, even when they tell you not to.
GigaOm’s Jeff John Roberts has a concise piece on the topic that anyone interested should read.
In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled [PDF] in the case of Glik v. Cunniffe that private citizens have the right to record public officials, including police, in a public place.
The court held that the First Amendment’s proscription on laws “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press… encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information.”
The ruling cites an earlier Supreme Court pronouncement that people have the right to gather news “from any source by means within the law.”
“The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles,” wrote the Appeals Court. “Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs.'”
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Part of issued gear for police in this country should be a camera on their chest or shoulder. Protection for everyone. That seems the only way we will ever get to the truth because every one is innocent.
ReplyDeleteAlready too much crap to lug around,and an attorney will convince an ignorant jury that they aren't actually seeing what they think they're seeing.Too cumbersome and expecting way too much out of a pathetic legal system.
ReplyDeleteThe police work for the elites who have destroyed this place. Why would you ever trust them?
ReplyDeleteThey knowingly enforce victimless statutory crimes all the time.
They are the modern day tax collectors.
We are servants.