As video cameras grow ever more ubiquitous, confrontations -- both legal and physical -- over their use are becoming more common.

Case in point: NBC affiliate WHEC-TV in Rochester, N.Y., reported Tuesday on an incident in which police arrested a woman who filmed a traffic stop from her front yard and refused an officer’s order to go into her house. The woman, 28-year-old Emily Good, was later charged with a misdemeanor: obstructing governmental administration.

As WHEC reports in this follow-up story, “The fundamental question being debated here is this -- should she have been forced to follow a police officer's order or was she lawfully within her rights to remain on her front lawn?"

Also, she was known to the police, having been arrested in March with a group of others who tried to block a home from foreclosure.



http://openchannel.msnbc.ms...lice-from-front-yard

LOL.....Stupid woman was all talk until she got detained. Its simple, if you dont belong there dont get involved!

What do you mean by that Kris?! Stupid woman, on her property, gets arrested. Dude, really? "If you don't belong there, don't get involved." FYI, she was on her property. Perhaps when you own something, you would understand if another man made you leave what is legally yours?


...................
Yeah, ok! Perhaps this girl is known to officers, but to tell her to go in the house! And to be arrested for recording an officer in his PUBLIC duties.... geeze. At least a neighbor had called 911 in the womans defense.

As far as I know, the question of taping in public has come up here, and I am to believe that we can record any public employee while they are on the clock. Correct me if i am wrong?

Tony

Edit: I will keep it in PMs...

[This message has been edited by Tony Kania (edited 06-22-2011).]

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: LOL.....Stupid woman was all talk until she got detained. Its simple, if you dont belong there dont get involved!

Couldn't manage two brain cells for that reply? Was the other one busy?

quote Originally posted by Tony Kania: What do you mean by that Kris?! Stupid woman, on her property, gets arrested. Dude, really? "If you don't belong there, don't get involved." FYI, she was on her property. Perhaps when you own something, you would understand if another man made you leave what is legally yours? ................... Yeah, ok! Perhaps this girl is known to officers, but to tell her to go in the house! And to be arrested for recording an officer in his PUBLIC duties.... geeze. At least a neighbor had called 911 in the womans defense. As far as I know, the question of taping in public has come up here, and I am to believe that we can record any public employee while they are on the clock. Correct me if i am wrong? Tony

In some states, recording police without their consent, even while on public property, falls under wiretapping and eavesdropping laws and is illegal. It's been argued on here recently, I'd have to go look it up.

Edit: Found it: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/085577.html

[This message has been edited by Rallaster (edited 06-23-2011).]

Officer gave her plenty of warning. She was too stupid to understand that and went to jail.

Well, give me plenty of warning on my property, and I will gladly get arrested. But plan on a fight after I get out. From what I understand, New york does not have a law forbidding you from recording any public official. As always, correct me if i am wrong.

Just because an officer gives you a warning, does not mean that they are in the right. If you don't want to be recorded, get a job that the public doesn't pay for! Passing laws that forbid a citizen from recording a public employee should be illegal.

That is just an opinion of a tax paying American citizen...

Tony

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: In some states, recording police without their consent, even while on public property, falls under wiretapping and eavesdropping laws and is illegal. It's been argued on here recently, I'd have to go look it up. Edit: Found it: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/085577.html

What does that have to do with her being on PRIVATE property?

She could have went inside and recorded from there.....
Tony, check ur pm's

quote Originally posted by Formula88: What does that have to do with her being on PRIVATE property?

She is on her property, but the police are on public property. And IIRC, in Illinois, recording any public official while they are doing their duty ANYWHERE without their consent is illegal. This being NY, I'm a bit fuzzy on the law, but I can't see it being much different.

I'm not to familiar with the law in that area, but it looks like she was doing everything within the boundary of the law, the cop on the other hand seems to have made up a "I don't feel safe" excuse to push a citizen around.

Were it me I would have asked the cop to not come on my property without a warrant, and then sat in jail for the next week waiting for court because I am not able to keep my mouth shut like she did.

I do think she mad e a mistake in that she asked instead of telling, but she was probably more correct in how she handled it. I find that crying does not help when you are arrested however.

Perhaps when certain members here actually have property, or rights they care about, then they will see the problem here.

Brad

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: I find that crying does not help when you are arrested however. Brad

Thanks for that tip--but Brad, are we to assume that you've personally tried it and the tears failed to get the desired positive results?
Did you try flashing a bit of man boob?

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: In some states, recording police without their consent, even while on public property, falls under wiretapping and eavesdropping laws and is illegal. It's been argued on here recently ...

I do not remember one reply defending these laws.

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: Officer gave her plenty of warning. She was too stupid to understand that and went to jail.

We should all be getting our video cameras out. If I didn't have so many fights on my plate ...

I'm wondering if she had a security camera system that recorded the incident while she was or wasn't home, could she have been arrested under the same law? It seems that the only problem is that she was too close to the Police, which could have jeopardized her safety and also kept the Police from devoting their full attention to the motorist. It appears that she was initially far enough away to not be of any concern or threat and filming in public in most places is legal as long as there's no criminal intent. At her initial distance, I don't believe the Police had any reason to order her to put away the camera and go back into the house.

We have occasionally filmed police activity for years, and someone even put a GPS tracker on a/some cars due to reports of police cars being stationary for long periods, outside their jurisdiction. One officer was found to have been stationary for 42 hours out of a 60 hour period. Upon his exit interview he admitted he was sleeping, talking on the phone, paying bills online, internet surfing on his laptop and social networking.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: I do not remember one reply defending these laws.

That's true.

What about news reporters and helicopters... like when Simpson was taking his drive down the freeway? What about the security cameras in the donut shop and the mustache comb store?

I strongly feel that if a person is an employee of the state/city/government, then they should be put to the scrutiny that we as citizens are. Taping an officer should be a right, not a law against it. Just how do we defend against the police that break the law? I do not see this as going well for us in the future. Cops can tape us, but we cannot tape them? It seems that three states already have laws preventing citizens from recording officers, but when does it stop? When all 57 states are banned from recording government emoployees? (Did you see what I did there? A little socialist humor. )

Anyhow, as a property owner, no man will tell me to go back into my home. I easily would have been in the same boat as that woman, and would have ended up in jail also.

Tony

Police do not like people "looking over their shoulder" when they are "doing their job". It's as simple as that.

It's been that way since the Rodney King affair...

------------------
My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

Ya gotta wonder, how far can this kind of thing go? So, you can't stand in your own yard if there's a cop making a traffic stop? How far is far enough away for them to "feel safe"? Is it just if they're in front of my yard, that *I* can't go outside, or can my next door neighbor also not go outside? Or maybe everyone on the block has to go inside? How about if the friggin' cops just take over, we go under martial law, and no one can go outside at all. Pricks. More and more, I can't stand cops, bunch of egomaniacs with an overinflated sense of importance. They act like asshats making up laws as they go to suit their needs, and wonder why people want to kill them? Gee, let me think....

quote Originally posted by Taijiguy: Ya gotta wonder, how far can this kind of thing go? So, you can't stand in your own yard if there's a cop making a traffic stop? How far is far enough away for them to "feel safe"? Is it just if they're in front of my yard, that *I* can't go outside, or can my next door neighbor also not go outside? Or maybe everyone on the block has to go inside? How about if the friggin' cops just take over, we go under martial law, and no one can go outside at all. Pricks. More and more, I can't stand cops, bunch of egomaniacs with an overinflated sense of importance. They act like asshats making up laws as they go to suit their needs, and wonder why people want to kill them? Gee, let me think....

I agree with the first few sentences, but you got a little far. Since when do cops make their own laws? You lump all LEOs into being assholes. A LOT are, but you have to accept the fact that they will always be around. So if you want to hit them where it hurts, you and many other people need to work on changing legislation so they don't have the right to act like pricks. A police officer is a man/woman with a badge and gun sworn to protect and serve the community, we can buy our own guns- where does that leave them?

I wonder the same thing though, I personally won't stand for it. I refuse not to uphold my rights as a citizen of this country. In this case, unfortunately she was violating a law- sure its a BS law that needs to be disposed of ASAP, but she was still in violation nonetheless.

I'm getting PRETTY TIRED of these "laws". If they are doing nothing wrong, then they should not be worried about being recorded.. just like those that defend the Patriot Act, right? What recourse do citizens have when a cop violates the law and it is illegal for you to get proof he did it with video/sound. Sounds like unlimited power to me.

If a Cop tells me he wants to enter my house after recording him on my property, he would be taking me to jail too. And maybe for assaulting an officer when its all said and done. This is MY land, I do on it what I want, that includes using my video camera. No warrant? Too bad, so sad.

As for property surveillance:
I would think video cameras on property ought to have a sign saying the property is monitored by cameras. (Thats for better security, anyhow.) Police cannot then arrest anyone for unknowingly recording them , even if they dont pay attention to the posted sign.

quote Originally posted by nitroheadz28: I agree with the first few sentences, but you got a little far. Since when do cops make their own laws? You lump all LEOs into being assholes. A LOT are, but you have to accept the fact that they will always be around. So if you want to hit them where it hurts, you and many other people need to work on changing legislation so they don't have the right to act like pricks. A police officer is a man/woman with a badge and gun sworn to protect and serve the community, we can buy our own guns- where does that leave them? I wonder the same thing though, I personally won't stand for it. I refuse not to uphold my rights as a citizen of this country. In this case, unfortunately she was violating a law- sure its a BS law that needs to be disposed of ASAP, but she was still in violation nonetheless.

They may have sworn to protect and serve, but it would appear that that oath means very little. You're right, legislation needs to be changed, the problem is, it seems is that the vast majority of people in this country want to be led around by the nose and told what to do and how to live. They also seem to demand laws that require others to live within the same narrow allowance of liberties that seem to be granted by our legislators, and not our creator as our forefathers wanted. You're also right that I may go a bit far. (although, there are a lot of people out there who want to kill cops, so it's not exactly a false statement) Maybe saying they make up their own laws was a bit lazy, but just as in this case, he arrested her for no particular reason other than she wasn't simply complying with his orders, even though he likely had no authority to give that order. He didn't cite any law prohibiting the filming of their actions, he merely stated that he didn't "feel safe" with her being there. So apparently a cop can just arrest you for not complying with his "orders", even though he might have no real authority to give that order, then it becomes your problem to defend yourself, even though you didn't actually break any laws. Just because they carry a gun and a badge....who has actually givn cops, the government, or ANYONE any authority over you or me? All those who claim to have any such authority have claimed it of their own accord, I never said it was OK for anyone to tell me what to do, how to live, or if I can stand in my own front yard or not.

^ Agreed. I'm waiting for the day to come when enough people stand up against it.

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: She could have went inside and recorded from there..... Tony, check ur pm's

Or she could have recorded from her own front yard.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: As for property surveillance: I would think video cameras on property ought to have a sign saying the property is monitored by cameras. (Thats for better security, anyhow.) Police cannot then arrest anyone for unknowingly recording them , even if they dont pay attention to the posted sign.

I won't be forced to put a sign up saying I am recording either. Wait, since we have no official language I could warn people in whatever language I want to right? Could be fun.

[אויב איר קענען לייענען דעם איך בין ריקאָרדינג אַלץ איר טאָן, און טראַנסמיטינג עס אויף אַ לעבן געשלעכט קאַם ווו מענטשן זענען געמאכט שפּאַס פון איר. דורך לייענען דעם איר שטימען צו אַלע ווערטער, און טנאָים ליגן אין דעם FAQ אָפּטיילונג אין www.madeupwebsite.com.]

Brad

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: I won't be forced to put a sign up saying I am recording either. Wait, since we have no official language I could warn people in whatever language I want to right? Could be fun. אויב איר קענען לייענען דעם איך בין ריקאָרדינג אַלץ איר טאָן, און טראַנסמיטינג עס אויף אַ לעבן געשלעכט קאַם ווו מענטשן זענען געמאכט שפּאַס פון איר. דורך לייענען דעם איר שטימען צו אַלע ווערטער, און טנאָים ליגן אין דעם אָפּטיילונג אין Brad

quote Originally posted by TommyRocker:

What happened?

Brad

It wasn't showing up right on my end so I took the chance to learn how you guys do that cool thing where it says something but is actually a link to a website...

[This message has been edited by TommyRocker (edited 06-23-2011).]

WHAT A BUNCH OF MORONS ,, THE POLICE HAVE A DIFFICULT JOB TO DO ,,PEOPLE MORE & MORE INTERFERE"" GOT MY RIGHTS,"" CRAP, YOU NEED YOUR RIGHTS WHEN POLICE HAVE REAL AUTHORITY,, THEN YOUR STUPID LEFTIST AZZ WOULD BE IN JAIL WITH YOU STUPID FACE SMASHED IN ,
AS AN OFFICER YOU CAN NOT CONDUCT ARREST, POSSIBLE ARREST WITH POTENTIAL DANGER NEAR ,, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT MAY COME AT YOU,, THIS WOMAN IS A PIECE OF CRAP!! WE GET FUTHER & FUTHER AWAY FROM RESPECT
YOU CHOOSE WHAT LAW YOU WANT OBEYED,,YOU CHOOSE THE RESPECT YOU GIVE..
SOME OF YOU SHOULD JOIN THE ACLU..WE NEED MORE CRIMINALS & AZZ HOLES ONTHE STREET.
THE SAME PEOPLE HATE THE COPS,,HATE THE MILITARY, SCREW YOU ..
FORMER leo & usmc

I don't have my translator handy so I think that said something along the lines of "RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!! Cops don't answer to you, cops have a dangerous job so they are above the law. If you think the cops should be held accountable then you are a pinko-commie Obama lover!"

I disagree. Cops are there to serve and protect. They are not gods among men. I respect good police officers, and I have nothing but contempt for the crooked dirt-bag ones. That badge doesn't automatically make you a saint, nor does it make you exempt from our laws.

quote Originally posted by uhlanstan: WHAT A BUNCH OF MORONS ,, THE POLICE HAVE A DIFFICULT JOB TO DO ,,PEOPLE MORE & MORE INTERFERE"" GOT MY RIGHTS,"" CRAP, YOU NEED YOUR RIGHTS WHEN POLICE HAVE REAL AUTHORITY,, THEN YOUR STUPID LEFTIST AZZ WOULD BE IN JAIL WITH YOU STUPID FACE SMASHED IN , AS AN OFFICER YOU CAN NOT CONDUCT ARREST, POSSIBLE ARREST WITH POTENTIAL DANGER NEAR ,, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT MAY COME AT YOU,, THIS WOMAN IS A PIECE OF CRAP!! WE GET FUTHER & FUTHER AWAY FROM RESPECT YOU CHOOSE WHAT LAW YOU WANT OBEYED,,YOU CHOOSE THE RESPECT YOU GIVE.. SOME OF YOU SHOULD JOIN THE ACLU..WE NEED MORE CRIMINALS & AZZ HOLES ONTHE STREET. THE SAME PEOPLE HATE THE COPS,,HATE THE MILITARY, SCREW YOU .. FORMER leo & usmc

Morons....."Got my rights crap"........."with your stupid face smashed in"..........Former L.E.O. & United States Marine Corp.
What were you guys saying?

U.... Really? Stay off the sauce man. Perhaps you did not read/don't know how to read, but I did mention that many of my friends are officers. But, if I am disrespected at my own table, then they too can get bent. Being an officer does not make you a god. Being an ex USMC also does not make you a god. Ordering me around on my own property WILL get you slapped. Officer or not.

Tony

Why am I not surprised about this? Cops make up "laws" all the time. It is perfectly legal to record from the sidewalk. So he was wrong right from the start.

He was right in that he can tell her not to stand behind him. But he cannot tell her that she has to go into her house. She could have walked across the street or anywhere else that was not behind him.

We all know the real reason he felt "unsafe". He didn't like the idea that someone was filming him. So he used the safety issue to try to get rid of her.

I wish her luck in court.


.

Don't care what the "law" is that's commie bull$hit right there! She was not interfering with anything nor was she a threat. Stupid cop let her interfere by directing his attention towards her. She gets a good enough lawyer she could own that town, and I hope she does! No wonder cops get a bad wrap, ones like those deserve it. If they do their job and actually not let their adrenaline control their actions (like we all have been led to believe they have been "trained" to) they shouldn't have anything to worry about when it comes to being video taped.

Can ya tell I have had a bad experience with the cops lately? F'n commie ba$tards.

Brian

[This message has been edited by BHall71 (edited 06-23-2011).]

Update: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2174896.shtml

quote Good's attorney, Stephanie Stare, had asked for the charges to be dismissed. In court today, the District Attorney's office says based on a review of the evidence, there was no legal basis to go forward. The charge was withdrawn and the judge dismissed the case.

I'm pleasantly surprised, but the officer that arrested her needs to be held accountable for falsely arresting her.

This comes up time and time again.
You may be in the right, but if a cop tells you what to do, you better do it or prepare to face the consequences.
People want to exercise their rights until something goes wrong and then they wonder what happened.
This doesn`t relate to cops, but here in Austin some bicycle riders want to exercise their right to having the right-of-way.
They may be right, but they could be dead right.
Is it worth it?

Guess what's coming next. A lawsuit.

Yea. This is where I live. The home of scumbag cops. There was a meeting/protest for the women taping. The cops took a ruler and measured distance cars where parked from the curb and issued tickets. They had no reason to escalate the situation but they are dicks and do as they please. One of these useless scumbags killed a husband and wife a couple years ago driving drunk and got away with it. Another one rear ended a pregnant woman high on coke and drunk and wasn't punished at all. These cops think they can do whatever they please. The officer had no reason to give her a order to begin with other than to show he had a badge on. That's the only reason he gave the order in the beginning. Typical cop showing off his power. Nothing more than this. She was not obstructing the cops. She wasn't saying anything or distracting them from doing their job. He got made fun of in school and now he thinks he is better than everyone else. If you go into public you are open to be photographed or recorded. If the cop had left the women alone there would have been no scene....... So the cop did more to escalate the situation than anybody else involved. If he had told her to stop taping and she didnt I would agree with what the cop did. But he didnt. Everyone has their own opinion and you all know mine. My opinion is that a majority of officers take advantage of their position. This being a great example. This crap happens every day. Im just glad this circus stays in the ghetto for everyone to laugh at. Cops around here get shot at all the time and they still wonder why.