Carlos Miller
As President Bush threatens to veto a bill that would make it harder for the government to spy on its citizens, police are increasingly using felony wiretapping charges to crack down on citizens who videotape them against their wishes.
Welcome to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Here are just a few examples:
- Simon Glik of Boston was arrested in October on felony charges of illegal wiretapping, disturbing the peace and – aiding a prisoner escape – after he used his cell phone to videotape police arresting a drug suspect. Glik, who was born in Moscow, must have felt as if he were back in Russia.
- Brian Kelly of Pennsylvania was arrested in May on felony charges of illegal wiretapping after filming an officer during a traffic stop from the passenger’s seat. The irony is that a camera in the officer’s vehicle was recording the traffic stop as Kelly was recording the officer. Kelly, who was 18 at the time, spent 26 hours in jail and was threatened with ten years imprisonment.
- Michael Gannon of New Hampshire was arrested on two felony counts of illegal wiretapping in 2006 after his home surveillance camera filmed a police detective barging into his home – after specifically being told he was not invited. The detective was investigating Gannon’s son for a mugging. Gannon was so perturbed by the detective’s actions, that he took the videotape to the police department to lodge a complaint. Police ended up arresting him instead. He spent several hours in jail, paid a $10,000 bond and had thousands of dollars worth of his equipment seized.
Last week, a Boston judge threw Glik’s case out, specifically stating that it was his First Amendment right to videotape police, according to the Boston Herald.
Judge Mark H. Summerville ruled Thursday that even though officers “were unhappy” Simon Glik, 31, of Lynn was rolling video on them on Oct. 1, “Photography is a form of expression which is entitled to First Amendment protection just as the written or spoken word is protected.”
Kelly’s case was dropped a month after his arrest, even prompting Pennsylvania district attorney David Reed to send out a message to all police agencies in the state informing them that citizens have the right to film them, if they are filming citizens.
Unlike Judge Summerville, Reed did not go as far as to specify that citizens have a First Amendment right to videotape police, regardless if they are being filmed or not. The good citizens of Pennsylvania, where the U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787, will have to fight that battle when it arises.
“When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges.
And Gannon’s case was also dropped, even prompting state legislators to introduce a bill that would allow residents to film people on their own property, with or without their consent. How’s that for a groundbreaking concept?The need to allow citizens to photograph, videotape and record police is essential if we are going to maintain a democracy that is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Especially at a time when citizens are constantly being monitored by the government.
If it’s not the increasing use of video cameras at traffic intersections, it is the federal government eavesdropping on overseas telephone conversations, which is a Fourth Amendment violation.
Law enforcement has gotten so confident about videotaping citizens, that they have even resorted to videotaping themselves committing human rights violations, as they did in the case of Hope Steffey of Ohio.
In another story, five Tennessee sheriff deputies were sent to prison after they were recorded beating and torturing a drug dealer.Had the incident never been recorded, the crime would have gone unenforced because nobody would have believed a convicted a drug dealer over five law enforcement officers.
The fact that it went barely reported in the mainstream media outside of Tennessee is a disgrace to what used to be the Fourth Estate.
Here are the details:On July 8th, 2004, five Campbell County sheriff deputies entered the home of Lester Eugene Siler because he was being accused of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The deputies ordered his wife and son to leave the house. Then they proceeded to threaten, beat and torture Siler.
At one point, they applied electricity to his genitalia.
But unknowing to the deputies, Siler’s wife started recording the deputies with a tape recorder before she left the house. Deputies Gerald David Webber, Samuel R. Franklin, Joshua Monday, Shayne Green and William Carroll were eventually convicted and sent to prison.
Here is the entire transcript that proved the cops severely violated Siler’s civil rights. Here is an audio segment that was uploaded to Youtube.
Siler and his wife were arrested on drug charges a year later. That still doesn’t justify violating his human rights.
Some cops are so arrogant about being observed, that they have arrested people for simply watching and taking notes of their actions without even filming or recording them.
In September, Mississippi police arrested an ACLU field worker who had asked for the badge numbers of police officers after they had made an arrest in the parking lot of a grocery store.
During the arrest, Brent Cox pulled out a notepad and started taking notes. The police ordered him away, making him stand so far that he couldn’t see what was going on. Meanwhile, other shoppers who were closer to the incident – and who were not taking notes – were not told anything.
When he asked for their badge numbers, they refused. One female officer even covered her badge with her hand. Cox, who has been trained to observe police without interfering, was charged with “interfering with a police investigation”.
Cox spent 14 hours in jail and has yet to go to trial.
And neither have I, even though it will soon be a year since my arrest for photographing Miami police against their wishes.
It makes me wonder if the Miami-Dade court system is deliberately avoiding scheduling my case because they know it would be impossible to find a jury who would not see through the lies of the arresting officers. If so, then they should just drop the case.
And let me continue my Constitutional Right of policing the police.
Popularity: 4% [?]
13 responses so far ↓
1 genewitch // Feb 6, 2008 at 7:48 PM
i posted about the 5 cops in Tennessee on my blog. i read all 60 pages, that crap is UNBELIEVABLE. i mean, the fact that i can understand them because they’re speaking ENGLISH… to someone responding in english. i’m speechless.
I wish i could donate to your legal fund, but my only available form of support is saying “i know you’ll come out on top”
what is this country turning in to.
2 Ms Calabaza // Feb 6, 2008 at 8:02 PM
Carlos,
do you have a legal fund? If you do, would you post the address? I’ll chip in.
3 Carlos Miller // Feb 6, 2008 at 9:48 PM
genewitch,
I appreciate your support and the fact you read my blog. That is priceless to me.
Ms Calabaza,
I do not have a legal fund, but I am considering setting something up because this has really put me in debt.
4 FerfeLaBat // Feb 7, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Good Lord! I had no idea it was this bad. I remember the fall out from the Rodney King video. No one likes being video taped or “officially observed” while they are working, but the job is the job and it’s in public dealing with the public. If you don’t want the attention, get a desk job.
5 Carlos Miller // Feb 7, 2008 at 5:16 PM
FerfeLaBat,
It really is bad. Even though all those cases were dropped, you know damn well those citizens will think twice before videotaping a cop again, which means they have been intimidated into giving up their First Amendment rights.
Law-abiding citizens should not fear cops.
And cops should not fear being filmed.
6 FerfelaBat // Feb 7, 2008 at 11:53 PM
“And cops should not fear being filmed.”
Ha! So you say. My husband just spent an entire day on the job with an ABC tv crew and aparently went off on a rant that had something to do with the last can of Diet Mt. Dew on board the plane being his personal “crack” or something which will all be aired sometime after April 12th. We are going to have to move after this one. He survived the BBC and Atlantic Monthly. This time? I think my luck ran out. It’s not the cop fearing the canera, it’s the cop’s family that fears it.
7 emily peyton // May 18, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Hi I am about to begin a log, I was also arrested on wiretapping charges in Greenfield Mass. charges later dismissed. I am going to start the process of securing a remedy. and will do it completely recorded by video. I have a youtube video online
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaOK38cImvI
of the arrest.. so youcan add me to your list thanks for your work
8 Chris Drew // Dec 14, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Artist, C Drew, went to the Loop on December 2nd to test the peddlers license law. For over three years he has written and talked about testing this law by breaking it so that the Federal Courts can have their say on its constitutionality. He was arrested while other artists videotaped and photographed the event. If all had gone as expected, Mr. Drew would have been picked up on a misdemeanor, charged with peddling without a license in a prohibited district and spent four hours in a police station. He did not know Illinois uses one of “Americas Dumbest Laws”. ( http://www.bored.com/crazylaws )
In 1994 Illinois amended its Eavesdropping Law to make it broader. Over time it has joined “Americas Dumbest Laws” because you can be charged with a felony for tape recording yourself in public if another person is taped in conversation with you without their consent. A Felony! On December 9th a judge in Cook County dropped the misdemeanor charges Drew was arrested for and found probable cause for the Felony Eavesdropping charges the police and States Attorney have leveled against him after his arrest.
The ugly part of this overly broad law is that it is used in the State of Illinois to squash dissent and quiet speech. This is the law Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office used to charge animal activist Steve Hindi in 2000. He was found innocent of the charge. It was the Eavesdropping law that Elizabeth Dobson, a former assistant state’s attorney from Champaign County used to attempt to silence the organizing activity of Martel Miller and Patrick Thompson in the African American community in that region. They later sued the County in Federal Court. It is this law that the Cook County’s State’s Attorney is using to silence my out spoken voice for artists’ rights.
If they succeed they will destroy my life. They will educate a new generation of artist activists on how to better confront the City. They will make Chicago laughed at around the world for beating up on its street artists. They will prove Chicago is not yet a world class city because it limits dissent through injustice. They will not destroy the ideas they are afraid of.
9 Odinist Press Service » Police increasingly use false wiretapping charges to prevent video recordings // Jan 13, 2010 at 7:50 AM
[...] a Boston man films a cop arresting a drug suspect and he gets arrested on felony [...]
10 Mass. man charged with illegal wiretapping for videotaping cops on public road « Orwell's Dreams // Apr 11, 2010 at 1:46 AM
[...] a Massachusetts judge threw a similar case out of court a couple of years ago when a Boston man was arrested on illegal wiretapping charges for [...]
11 Congressman introduces resolution to protect citizens who videotape cops | Dark Politricks // Jul 18, 2010 at 11:00 AM
[...] If police have nothing to hide, then they shouldn’t mind being videotaped var addthis_pub = ''; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, google, facebook, reddit, live, more'; [...]
12 Congressman introduces resolution to protect citizens who videotape cops | News, Video and Commentary Without the Censorship // Jul 18, 2010 at 7:56 PM
[...] them * Police increasingly using false wiretapping charges to prevent public video recording * If police have nothing to hide, then they shouldn’t mind being videotaped Share and [...]
13 Congressman introduces resolution to protect citizens who videotape cops « Orwell's Dreams // Jul 19, 2010 at 12:04 AM
[...] If police have nothing to hide, then they shouldn’t mind being videotaped [...]
Leave a Comment