Toronto Photography Meetup Group

This video is food for thought if your heading south of the border with your camera. Even if its only a cell phone camera or voice recorder. In a dozen or so states there is a law that states if you record a police officer without their consent its a Felony (15 years per offense). Odds are they will drop the charges but the fact that this sort of law exists warrants some caution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNlJYSIz ... _embedded#!

The fact that such law exists clearly indicates that USA is a police state where law enforcement can be left out off the hook in case of criminal behavior while on duty,
just because they were illegally filmed at that moment. While resistance to police actions can be futile and outright deadly, video and pictures are often the only resort of the civilians to prove what actually happened.

Unlike civilians, police officers are public figures/servants and should not expect any privacy in public domain while on duty.



Interesting to say that in Russia, where police corruption and brutality is notorious, there is law that clearly indicates that police officers can be filmed/pictures taken while on duty.
This was one of the many "soft" laws where its harsh conditions were offset by rarity of prosecution and those who tried to capture police or private security on film often ended up in trouble with them.

Now, things are hopefully getting better - there is a wave social activity from many most popular bloggers/photographers, who literally go out to reinforce these laws.
In case of non-cooperation from police and security, these bloggers escalating matters to office of State Attorney and other agencies, including office of the president, as applicable.

i cant see the youtube clip at work, but what if you're the media? You can't film police doing their jobs?

Right, what if the police officer was acting outside the scope of their duties? The protection can't surely extend that far, can it?

It seems the rabbit hole is quite deep.

I can't watch the clip at work but here is something.

http://gizmodo.com/5835723/federal-cour ... d-the-cops

Very sad state of affairs. Most civil libertarians abhor enabling legislation such as this. It points to an uneven playing field between state and private individuals when there are laws against seemingly innocuous behavior or behavior many consider necessary as a tool to keep state power in check.
Rightwingers will fight for the continued right to bear arms - even high powered assault guns- as a 5th Amendment right to keep the government in check yet they don't raise a peep about the loss of the ability to film state agents.

I haven't taken the time to read the legislation but as it is presented in this thread one would think that most security cameras could be in violation of this law whenever a police officer walks in to view. I am not a criminal or constitutional lawyer but the legitimacy and constitutionality of these type of laws are ones that are most likely to be challenged by activist lawyers

Double post

Since we on the subject, makes sense to bring up a very good reference for Canadian photographers
that has been already mentioned previously on the tpmg forums:

http://ambientlight.ca/laws/