In recent years, there have been countless cases of police officers ordering people to turn off their cameras, confiscating phones, and, like Reilly, arresting those who attempt to capture footage of them. Despite a common misconception, it’s actually perfectly legal to film police officers on the job. read more
“While we understand these opinions, the present law in this circuit does not recognize a First Amendment right to observe and record without some form of expressive conduct, and photographing police is not, as a matter of law, expressive activity,” Kearney wrote. read more
Most officers, says Sanchez, now know that bystanders have a legal right to film police. Now, instead of hearing assertions that they can’t record at all, he says that Copwatch volunteers are accused of interfering with police activity. “What we hear is, you can’t film here, you need to back up,” he told me. read more