On January 9th Joseph Demary of Lenox, MA, one of our followers on Facebook, was arrested for recording a police officer issuing him a traffic citation.
In his own words,
“I was arrested for “unlawful secret recording” for having my phones camera on as it sat on the passenger seat of my car as I received a speeding ticket. I informed the officer I was just protecting myself and my rights. I was quickly arrested and charged with a felony “unlawful secret recording”, my vehicle was towed, I was booked, fingerprinted and thrown in a jail cell for 3hrs for nothing more than exercising my constitutional rights.
The first Amendment includes the freedom to observe and document the conduct of governent officials, which is crucial to democracy and a free society.
Laws governing recording government officials vary depending on jurisdiction, but the first amendment applies across all of America. We should not have to fear our government and certainly should be able to take reasonable action to accurately record events when we interact with officials. If you think Mr. Demary’s arrest seems unjust, Share this to spread the word and help raise awareness! Mr. Demary goes on to say:
Citizens should have the right to record police during arrests, either of their own arrest or someone else’s, to ensure that they are PROTECTING and SERVING rather than acting as Tyrants. This is not the first time someone has been arrested for simply recording Police officers, and I feel that all people should have the right to film Police Officers, especially during their own arrest to make sure the Officers in question are being fair and not abusing their power.This is a blatant violation of civil rights and a injustice. Currently this is just a state issue but I believe that this should be a federal Constitutional Right.
If you would like to support Mr. Demary, here is a link to a petition to help him out.
Photo: Change.org
I smell a large lawsuit.
Obama & Holder must stay up all night to sneak all these laws in on us?/
we all need to do this to protect our selves cops are just as crooked as most
Dennis Mead. I agree with you to a point. But not all cops are crooked. I have experienced being around different types of law enforcement in my life. Some good. Some bad…!!!
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From: http://www.truthandaction.org/1st-amendment-violation-police-arrest-man-recording-traffic-citation/comment-page-1/#comment-493163
Thanks , I have just been searching for info about this topic for a
while and yours is the best I’ve discovered till now.
However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you
sure about the source?
I was arrested in my home, cuffed and asked the detective to bring 3 tape recorders on my bedside table with him to the station.
I was later charged with illegal wire tapping a police officer in the booking room without his knowledge or consent.
I was cuffed and he took possession of them in my house.
Legal ?
More and more crupt cops
More and more we have to stand against them
Thanks u racist bastard we have as a president
I’ll throw in my 2 cents 🙂 I think what it comes down to is this particular cop overreacted. Massachusetts is a 2 party inform state. IF this driver informed the cop, I would like to record this interaction for myself BEFORE the talking started, then he would have acted under the law in Massachusetts. If the driver left his phone on and didn’t inform the officer until after the citation was already given, then the driver would have broken the Massachusetts 2 party notification law. BUT!! I am 100% for our Constitutional right’s. But we cannot break local law in the process. I believe this cop overreacted in this case. Since the cop is already miked, so any verbal interaction would have already been recorded where the cop is unable to taper with the recording. The cop SHOULD HAVE said, hey, you can’t record me audibly without my consent and just ask him to turn off the recording, give the initial citation and let him leave. There are 12 states that require 2 party notification whether over the phone or in person, and THAT’S what the Police will use to make their case. I feel badly for the driver because I do believe the cop could have handled this much better. I am in agreement for our Constitutional rights, BUT, when you elect you local lawmakers that make local state laws that police must follow, it makes a very difficult battle to fight those laws when you claim your Constitutional rights. These court cases happen ALL the time! Make sure you are voting in local lawmakers and judges that protect our CONSTITUTIONAL rights and not write laws that conflict with them.
For his protection the recording was smart, some cops are corrupt crooked people too. I Know a cop who pulled someone around their car by their nose because he felt he was getting attitude. If that person had a recording that cop would have been reprimanded, rather than bragging to me about it. Oh, can’t record my ass, as long as cops are people, never mind people with power many of them become corrupt! If they following the rules why would they care about a recording!