7 years for taping a cop?

Imagine That

Picture this – you are walking down the street minding your own business when you see a police officer stops a young man. Out of boredom you pull out your cell phone and start recording the encounter. Suddenly the officer begins to holler at the young man and then repeatedly strikes him. Other officers show up and the young man is arrested.

One of the officers sees you recording them and:

A) Takes your phone as “evidence”

B) Arrests you for wiretapping

C) Tells you to move along

If you live in PA or several other states A and B are real possibilities. Several courts and police departments have taken the position that recording the police in a public place while they are doing their job is wiretapping since the police did not “consent” to the recording. If this is in fact the law then every time you videotape anyone without their consent – regardless of the situation – such as a crowd at a concert or even the people having fun at Hershey park you are conceivably guilty of wiretapping, a third degree felony on PA, and could go to jail for up to seven years.

If you think I am overstating the issue consider the case of Anthony Graber, a 25 year old Staff Sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard. Sgt Graber taped an encounter with a Maryland State Police Officer where the officer is accused of improper behavior. Graber later posted the tape on YouTube and, as one would expect, as soon as the Police saw how their officer behaved Sgt Graber received an apology and the officer was reprimanded, the police arrested Sgt. Graber for violating Maryland’s wiretapping law. The Sgt is now dealing with the charges and if convicted could spend 16 years in jail. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061505556.html

In Illinois the legislature has actually made it illegal to tape anyone without their consent, including a police officer beating a kid for no reason. While the law was passed to protect police from having their actions recorded the law would also, presumably, mean that if you want to tape at a concert or a parade or just an elementary school recital you need to get the consent of everyone in the crowd or risk going to jail.

There is currently a resolution pending in the congress directed at this issue. However, it is not a binding statement of law. H.CON.RES.298.IH

Think about the ramifications of this situation and consider mentioning to your elected officials that Pennsylvania needs to consider adopting the laws of the other states and/or the federal government, or at the very least, amending PA law to make it clear that videotaping the police in a public location is NOT wiretapping.