Jew World Order

There are some very disturbing videos
circulating the Internet right now, depicting the deaths of unarmed
civilians at the hands of trained, armed men. Many of these videos even
show individuals being shot in the back, or as they try to flee.
~ Nadia Kayyali

These are videos of police officers in America killing unarmed black men like Oscar Grant and Eric Garner.
And, as the most recent case shows, without these recordings, much of
America might not have any idea exactly how much of a problem this is.

Citizen videos of law enforcement encounters are more valuable than ever. And for those who are wondering – it is legal to record the police.

The police don’t always seem aware of this. There have been incidents across the country of police telling people to stop filming, and sometimes seizing their camera or smartphone, or even arresting them, when they don’t comply.

In the most recent citizen-filmed incident to gain widespread media attention, on April 4, white police officer Michael Slager shot and killed 50-year-old black man Walter Scott in the back as he ran away in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Bystander Feiden Santana filmed the encounter, which started with a traffic stop. After Santana’s video surfaced, the officer was arrested and charged with murder.

Santana said that he is scared of what might happen to him. He also considered deleting
the video, and doing nothing with it. Santana is not the only
person who may be intimidated by the prospect of filming the police,
with good reason.

That’s why, in addition to EFF Attorney Sophia Cope’s legal analysis highlighting some of the recent case law establishing the right to film police officers, we’re sharing some basic information cop watchers should know.

What Courts Have Said

Courts across the country have held
that there is a First Amendment right to openly record the police.
Courts have also held, however, that individuals cannot interfere with
police operations, and that wiretapping statutes that prohibit secretly
recording may apply to recording the police.

Underlying these
decisions is the understanding that recording the police is
constitutionally protected.

Know Your Rights and Be Safe

While it has been established that
individuals have the right to record the police, what happens on the
street frequently does not match the law. Also, if you’re thinking about
filming the police, it’s likely you’ll have more police encounters than
you otherwise would.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a
bar association that does police accountability work. The National
Lawyers Guild Legal Observer program is focused on watching the police
at protests.

CopBlock and Cop Watch are loosely organized groups that have chapters across the country, and provide resources on filming the police everyday.

Here are the most essential things to keep in mind:

• Stay calm and courteous, even though the situation may be stressful.
  Remember-if you get arrested or get into an altercation with the
  police, you won’t be able to keep filming them!

• Be sure that you are not interfering with police operations, and stand at a safe distance from any encounter you film.

• Your right to record audio surreptitiously of police carrying out
  their duties in public may vary from state to state. You should check
  your state law to know the fullest extent of your rights, but the lowest
  risk way to record is to hold your device in plain view of the
  officers.

• Do not lie to police officers. If they ask whether you are recording, answer honestly.

• If the police start interacting with you, treat the encounter as you
  would any encounter with law enforcement-in fact, you may want to be
  extra careful, since as the repeated incidents of police seizing cameras
  and smartphones demonstrate, it may make you more of a target.

• If you are at a demonstration, police will often issue a dispersal
  order-in general, they will declare a protest an unlawful assembly and
  tell people to leave. Unless you are granted permission to stay, that
  order applies to you, too. If you do not comply, you should expect to be
  arrested.

• While it is not legal for an officer to order you to move because
  you are recording, they may still order you to move. If you do not
  comply you could be arrested. If you do want to comply, consider
  complying with the smallest movement possible, and verbally confirming
  that you are complying with their orders. For example, if you are
  standing five feet from an officer, and they say “You need to move
  back,” you might want to consider calmly saying “yes, officer, I am
  moving back” while taking a few steps back.

Below are some helpful resources and tips related to interacting with and filming the police from these groups and EFF:

• The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) “Know Your Rights” pamphlet (available in multiple languages) provides basic information you should know for interacting with the police.

• The NLG Legal Observer Program training manual has tips for filming the police at protests, many of which are useful for filming any encounter.

• Cop Watch has resources and examples here.

• EFF’s Know Your Rights guide provides information on what you need to know if the police want to search your electronic devices.

Why Focus on Citizen Recording When Departments Are Implementing Bodycams?

As the conversation about police accountability continues to take place across the country, body cameras are often proposed as a solution, and they are getting a lot of attention in the news right now.

“Bodycam” recordings have made a difference in some cases. Many transparency and accountability advocates including EFF, have expressed reasonable doubts about their efficacy.

States are trying to grapple with the many privacy issues they raise, mostly by considering exempting the footage from public records
act requests.

While “bodycams” may be a contentious subject,
there’s little doubt that it is citizen footage of law enforcement
encounters that has really fueled the current debate about police
accountability.

Keep Taping

As North Charleston Pastor Nelson Rivers said:
“If not for the video, we would still be following the narrative from
the officer. If not for this video, the story would be entirely
different.” Scott’s family agrees.

After watching the video, his brother stated: “I think that if that man
never showed the video we would not be at the point that we’re at right
now.”

North Charleston Councilwoman Dorothy Williams had this to
say: “I’m asking all the citizens of North Charleston to continue
taping.”

You don’t have to live in North Charleston to know why that’s a good idea.

Source

October 31, 2015 – KnowTheLies

Nadia Kayyali serves as
the Vice-President for the National Lawyers Guild SF Bay Area Chapter,
has served on the NLG’s national board, and has been involved with the
NLG legal observer program nationally for over four years.

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