ElNono
12-12-2014, 02:07 PM
Once Again, Baltimore Police Arrest a Person For Recording Them
A lawsuit was filed yesterday over a case in which a woman was arrested for recording the police from her car (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/cops-use-taser-on-woman-while-she-recorded-arrest-of-another-man/) while stopped in traffic. Ars Technica writes, "Police erased the 135-second recording from the woman's phone, but it was recovered from her cloud account according to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City lawsuit, which seeks $7 million."
Baltimore police lost a similar case against Anthony Graber in 2010 (http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/27/2244216/motorcyclist-wins-taping-case-against-state-police) and another against Christopher Sharp in 2014 (http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/03/12/landmark-settlement-reached-in-preakness-arrest-case/). The is happening so often in Baltimore that in 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the police (http://slashdot.org/story/12/05/17/2320259/us-justice-dept-defends-right-to-record-police) reminding them that they cannot stop recordings, and most certainly cannot delete them.
Local awareness of this issue is high since the the Mayor and the City Council support requiring police body cameras (http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/12/02/baltimore-police-could-have-body-cameras-early-next-year/). The city council just passed a bill requiring them, but the mayor is delaying implementation until a task force determines how best to go about it. The country is also focused on police behavior in light of the recent cases in Ferguson (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-shooting-michael-brown-grand-jury.html?_r=0) and New York (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-eric-garner-grand-jury-20141203-story.html#page=1), the latter of which involved a citizen recording.
So the mayor, city council, police department policies, courts, and federal government are all telling police officers to stop doing this. Yet it continues to happen, and in a rather violent matter. What can people do to curb this problem?
A lawsuit was filed yesterday over a case in which a woman was arrested for recording the police from her car (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/cops-use-taser-on-woman-while-she-recorded-arrest-of-another-man/) while stopped in traffic. Ars Technica writes, "Police erased the 135-second recording from the woman's phone, but it was recovered from her cloud account according to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City lawsuit, which seeks $7 million."
Baltimore police lost a similar case against Anthony Graber in 2010 (http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/09/27/2244216/motorcyclist-wins-taping-case-against-state-police) and another against Christopher Sharp in 2014 (http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/03/12/landmark-settlement-reached-in-preakness-arrest-case/). The is happening so often in Baltimore that in 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the police (http://slashdot.org/story/12/05/17/2320259/us-justice-dept-defends-right-to-record-police) reminding them that they cannot stop recordings, and most certainly cannot delete them.
Local awareness of this issue is high since the the Mayor and the City Council support requiring police body cameras (http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2014/12/02/baltimore-police-could-have-body-cameras-early-next-year/). The city council just passed a bill requiring them, but the mayor is delaying implementation until a task force determines how best to go about it. The country is also focused on police behavior in light of the recent cases in Ferguson (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-shooting-michael-brown-grand-jury.html?_r=0) and New York (http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-eric-garner-grand-jury-20141203-story.html#page=1), the latter of which involved a citizen recording.
So the mayor, city council, police department policies, courts, and federal government are all telling police officers to stop doing this. Yet it continues to happen, and in a rather violent matter. What can people do to curb this problem?