The law for video taping people has always been if it is in public its fair game. The founder of “Girls Gone Wild” has made millions off of this and those in the media use this everyday. So why was a Maryland man arrested and facing 16years in prison for video taping a traffic stop?
In modern times everyone with a cell phone has a camera. And with YouTube, everyone has the ability to broadcast videos across the world. More and more people catch a lot of stuff on tape both good and bad. Now often police officers have to be a little more careful about abusing their power. How could this be a bad thing? The combination of cell phone cameras and YouTube in a small way has if anything helped to put some checks and balances on the government.
Well big brother doesn’t like to be put in check. Recently a Marylander named Anthony Graber (a staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard) was pulled over for speeding and driving recklessly on his motorcycle. Unknown to the officer Graber had a helmet camera. After the stop Graber posted a video of the traffic stop on YouTube. The video showed the officer cutting him off and them pulling his firearm on him. After posting the video Graber was arrested and his parents home was raided. The police confiscated his camera, computers and external hard drives. The reason given for his arrest was that he violating Maryland’s new state wiretap laws. The irony is that Maryland police cars have on board cameras and are allowed to video tape you. Also the media often ride along with police officers and videotape arrest and stops.
When used in a productive way, cameras can be a very useful tool. At my Jiu-Jitsu school we have many cameras. The cameras are used for many reasons. They are used to make sure instructors and employee are doing what they are supposed to in their classes, prevent theft and generally make sure no one is doing things that they are not supposed too. Also our school has a very large kids program and the cameras are there to not only make sure nothing inappropriate happens but also to prevent any false accusations. The police officers onboard camera is used in a similar way and I have no problem with that. So why the double standard when it comes to taping a police officer?
Apparently this is not the first time that this has happened. This problem has been spreading across the country. According to Carlos Miller (Miami journalist) he has personally documented about 10 arrests since 2007. Miller has himself been arrested twice for photographing police. He won one of the cases against him and the other was thrown out because the officer failed to appear.
So the answer to the question “why would the government not let you video police officers?” is the same reason why big brother impose all of its regulations… Power & Control! David Rocah from the ACLU made the following statement “The message is clearly, 'Don't criticize the police.' With these charges, anyone who would even think to record the police is now justifiably in fear that they will also be criminally charged.” Now Democratic Congressman Edolphus Towns of New York introduced a resolution calling for the protection of citizens who videotape cops in public from getting arrested on state wiretapping charges. We can only hope that he gets the support needed to pass such a resolution.
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