Man facing 75 years for recording police

[bob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwQyg9CjnI&feature=player_embedded

A man facing 75 years in prison for taping and uploading videos of police ignorance.

Total abuse of power.

[odinn7]

That's some bullsh*t. As long as it's done on public property, or your own property for that matter, I can't see how it could be considered a crime.

Of course, they're only doing that to avoid proof and resulting lawsuits when they, themselves, break the law.

[JaseSF]

That's freakin' insane!   The cops have nothing better to do that arrest ordinary people? Guess they just let the murderers run loose so they can track down all those evil people out there who might have a video camera handy. What next? Ban all cameras from the state?! Therein lies the road to loss of personal rights and freedoms.

[Mofo Rising]

Just recently (in America) a Federal court ruled that filming police is an unambiguous constitutional right. So hopefully this gets thrown out soon.

Now, I like the police. I realize it's a hard job, and the recognition for work done is negligible. I also think that the police should be held to an incredibly high standard. There is so much power placed into the hands of the police. It would be down right un-American not to expect them to conform to the letter of the law. Your life can be ruined by an over-zealous, disgruntled policeman.

I would say the majority of the police are decent people, trying to do a difficult job for peanuts, and I thank them for it. At the same time, there are a lot of crappy police who are getting by on lazy, slipshod approaches to the law. The idea that the police can not be filmed is not to protect the public, it's to protect the worst offenders of bad police.

"Who watches the watchmen?" Everybody!

Do you know what we get if we don't demand culpability in our public defenders? Spaceballs. And Spaceballs are mothers of the galaxy. That can't end up well for anybody.

[Leah]