Shoot video of a police arrest? Go to jail.

[LouCipherr]

This happened right in my home state. Color me disappointed. "Land of the Free" eh? Where?!



http://wjz.com/local/preakness.fight.internet.2.1708562.html

Several Marylanders face felony charges for recording their arrests on camera, and others have been intimidated to shut their cameras off. That’s touched off a legal controversy.

A man whose arrest was caught on video faces felony charges from Maryland State Police for recording it on camera.

“We are enforcing the law, and we don’t make any apologies for that,” said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.

“For the government to be saying it has the power to prevent citizens from doing that is profoundly shocking, troubling, and particularly in the case of Maryland, simply flat-out wrong,” said David Roach, ACLU.

[bassman]

So after reading the article i'm still not clear on something.....was the person being arrested filming his/her self? Or was this another person walking by that decided to record a random joe being locked up?

If it is the accused filming, I understand where the cops are coming from. If he's asking you questions, handcuffing, or whatever....and you're holding a phone up to his face he's not going to like it. You're getting in the way of his duties. It's basically obstruction.

If it's someone walking down the sidewalk, sees another citizen being arrested, and then films it for potential youtube laughs....the cops shouldn't be able to do shit.

[SRP76]

So, let's see...

If some random dude films you ("you" being all of you; people at large)without your consent, just to do who-knows-what with the footage, you get bent out of shape and want it stopped.

But if police don't want someone doing it to them, it's some kind of travesty, and people are just exercising "freedom".

[LouCipherr]

So after reading the article i'm still not clear on something.....was the person being arrested filming his/her self? Or was this another person walking by that decided to record a random joe being locked up?


Someone else filmed his arrest. I believe when they say he "filmed himself beinig arrested" he had set up someone else to film his arrest as it happened. He wasn't filming it himself while this was going down.

[Trin]

Yet every traffic signal in the city and every cop car has built in video cameras now and they can prosecute based on video evidence without even an eye witness.

[AcesandEights]

So, let's see...

If some random dude films you ("you" being all of you; people at large)without your consent, just to do who-knows-what with the footage, you get bent out of shape and want it stopped.

But if police don't want someone doing it to them, it's some kind of travesty, and people are just exercising "freedom".

The police are civil servants, ostensibly acting at the behest of the people. Anything they do might ruffle feathers, but shouldn't be so bad it's forbidden to be caught on camera (unless it's putting undercover or future police activity/lives at risk). I think a good level of scrutiny comes with the job and it should be common sense for those that hire on.

Checks and balances, man.

[SRP76]

The police are civil servants, ostensibly acting at the behest of the people. Anything they do might ruffle feathers, but shouldn't be so bad it's forbidden to be caught on camera (unless it's putting undercover or future police activity/lives at risk). I think a good level of scrutiny comes with the job and it should be common sense for those that hire on.

Checks and balances, man.

No, it shouldn't come with the job. Like they don't put up with enough shit as it is. Their job calls for them to be in close contact with the absolute bottom of society. They have to deal with shitbags constantly.

And now you want to stick a camera in their face on top of that? And how about compensation? The more bullshit you want them to deal with, the more you need to be paying them, and that money will be coming out of someone's pocket, namely ours.

[LouCipherr]

Here's some more food for thought. Take a look at this:

Botched SWAT and Police Raids (http://www.cato.org/raidmap/#)

You can even sort by state if you want to narrow down some of these things.

...and people wonder why others film the police doing what they're doing? It's because half the time they're breaking the law themselves or fucking up in the worst possible ways.


Any fans of the band Concrete Blonde here?

"They're gonna call me sir, they'll all stop picking on me
Well I'm a high school grad I'm over 5 foot 3
I'll get a badge and a gun and I'll join the P.D.
They'll see

....

God is a bullet, have mercy on us everyone"

Most cops I know (and even the several i'm related to) got into it for one thing and one thing only: the power-trip of having a badge. I can't, and will not, respect that.

[AcesandEights]

Like they don't put up with enough shit as it is. Their job calls for them to be in close contact with the absolute bottom of society. They have to deal with shitbags constantly.

Many of them also have to recurrently deal with innocent members of society. What? You think someone who has a hard job, deals with the shit end of society and wields a great deal of personal power, including that of life and death, and who is expected to wield all that power during incredibly stressful situations isn't under duress or ever in danger of losing personal or professional sight of how to responsibly wield that power?

I'm afraid common sense and human history say otherwise.


And now you want to stick a camera in their face on top of that?

Yeah, sure. I personally want to shove a camera in the face of every single police officer in the country :rolleyes: More likely, I think their arresting someone who happens to be taping an open-air arrest might be questionable and that a blanket law against such a thing might bare closer scrutiny, lest it lead to abuse or the protection of the abuse of power.

More likely, cops should continue to adopt their own higher measures of self-documentation. That, in tandem with any form of eyewitness support or other evidence, should exonerate an honest cop in an otherwise questionable situation, though I grant you that won't always happen.

[bassman]

Anybody here ever gone on a ride along with a cop? Just sign a quick form and you can ride an entire shift with an officer. Done it a few times myself. I suggest you look into it before saying whether or not they treat people fairly.

[LouCipherr]

Anybody here ever gone on a ride along with a cop? Just sign a quick form and you can ride an entire shift with an officer. Done it a few times myself. I suggest you look into it before saying whether or not they treat people fairly.

Yes, with the Howard County Police Dept. in Maryland. They kept me in the car almost the entire time though. Kinda sucked. :rolleyes:

I've seen the way some cops treat people - I'm not saying 'all' cops are like this, but many, many of them got into law enforcement for the power-trip of having a badge and treat people as such. I've witnessed it not only first-hand, but in more videos than I can count.

Believe me, I know there's policemen who got into law enforcement for the right reasons and do their job well. Probably quite a few. I'm also sure there's also some who got into it for the right reasons and then after seeing the scum of the earth they have to deal with, changed their attitude and approach.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't trust any of them, and how sad is that when they're supposed to be protecting me from the nutcases out there? :shifty:

[darth los]

I'll just tell them the same thing they tell suspects.

If you have nothing to hide then there's nothing to worry about.

Ah, double standards. Very republican.

:cool:

[Kaos]

The ACLU is all over this. The law was made specifically to protect establishment law breakers (police, politicians) safe to continue law breaking with impunity.

[LouCipherr]

I'll just tell them the same thing they tell suspects.

If you have nothing to hide then there's nothing to worry about.

hah! +1!