Videoing Cops Illegal?

Texas Bill Aims to Make Filming Cops Close up Illegal!

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You know all those videos shot on the hard shoulder, from inside a car that’s been pulled over by the cops?

Well, they could be made illegal if a bill proposed by Texas Rep. Jason Villalba passes.

He’s proposing that it should be made illegal to film police officers any closer than 25 feet, or around 7.5 meters. If the person who wants to film is carrying a gun, the distance grows four times to 100 feet…

It wouldn’t be a serious offense, though, and even if the law did pass it would be considered a misdemeanor. You’d only be allowed to film from up close if you were an accredited journalist.

This is an odd moment to propose such a bill, particularly because it was amateur closeup videos that made us understand what happened in places like Ferguson, Missouri.

We have doubts about Rep. Villalba’s real intention being to “just asks filmers to stand back a little so as not to interfere with law enforcement," and think it’s a ridiculous explanation for a bill that really sounds like it’s aimed at something else.

I started this article by mentioning in-car videos shot on the side of the road, as those would no longer be legal; think of how many gems we’ve seen shot through that method and just how revealing they were about American cops, their conduit and often trigger-happy nature that foreigners always thought was an unjust stereotype – it’s not, it seems.

CarScoops

I love it, we can't film them, but everywhere you go there are video cameras that let Big Brother monitor us. Your license plate can be put into a computer system, and they can find out that you have been on a road X amount of times in the past year.

I'd vote against it in a heartbeat. They should be allowed to be videotaped as long as it is not directly interfering with an investigation or a true distraction from doing official job requirements. I've seen too many videos of cops going way overboard just from being videotaped much less getting mad at what is being videotaped.

Aren't there some states that already restrict recording police?

This was an article from August of last year...

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“There are First Amendment protections for people photographing and recording in public,” Mickey Osterreicher, an attorney with the National Press Photographers Association, told The Huffington Post. According to Osterreicher, as long as you don’t get in their way, it’s perfectly legal to take photos and videos of police officers everywhere in the United States.

This misconception is pervasive enough that the New York City Police Department circulated a memo last week reminding officers.

“Members of the public are legally allowed to record police interactions,” the memo states, according to the Daily News. “Intentional interference such as blocking or obstructing cameras or ordering the person to cease constitutes censorship and also violates the First Amendment.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/filming-police-officers_n_5676940.html

I heard about it on the morning news the other morning, the first thing I thought was 'that is unconstitutional.' I recall a case a few years ago dealing with a chic on the beach not wanting to be photographed, the courts ruled something to the effect of she had no expectation of privacy in a public place. As long as the police are in a public place, they can be videoed.

It may not be illegal. That doesn't stop them from arresting you, confiscating your property, hauling you in, with some hair brained interpretation of the law charging you with illegal wire tapping. Some states there's consent that must be involved. Or verbal acknowledgement that you are recording audio and or video.

Mean while your life is hell, court appearances, legal fees, anguish, frustration.

It's complicated and painful by design. The message? Don't challenge the authority, just obey.

The goober boy Rep from Texas pulled this legislation. Good riddance. Time to take our country back, that's if there's a will within the people.