Yes, It's Legal To Film The Cops -- And What's Been Filmed In Recent Months Is Appalling - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Yes, It's Legal To Film The Cops -- And What's Been Filmed In Recent Months Is Appalling
The Huffington Post | By Christopher Mathias
Posted: 10/13/2014 5:42 pm EDT Updated: 10/13/2014 6:13 pm EDT

<snip>

NEW YORK -- It's becoming clearer and clearer that smartphones have ushered in a new era of police accountability. Since mid-July, when a bystander on Staten Island filmed the death of Eric Garner in a prohibited police chokehold, at least eight other unsettling videos, most of them captured by smartphone, have emerged showing instances of apparent excessive force by NYPD officers. Four such videos have appeared this month alone.

Although police might intimidate bystanders into thinking otherwise, it's perfectly legal to film the cops -- not only in New York, but everywhere in the U.S. -- as long as you don't get in their way. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, encourages people to keep using their phones to film troubling police incidents. The more people who post these videos online, she said, the more likely it is that other people will reach for their own phones when they see cops doing something questionable.

"When police wrongdoing is captured on videotape, it makes the public understand what has happened and why we need to hold the police accountable, and that we need changes in the way police do business," Lieberman told The Huffington Post.

"Nobody would have believed what happened to Rodney King if it hadn't been caught on videotape," she added, referring to the man who was brutally beaten by Los Angeles cops in 1991, leading to months of protests. "The same is true for Eric Garner."

Lieberman also argued that the modern-day proliferation of video is actually good news for police officers.

"It's ready-made training material, and sometimes it's a ready-made defense against wrongful accusation," she said. "It should protect good cops and hold accountable those cops who fundamentally disrespect the rights and laws they're supposed to protect."

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/film-the-cops_n_5967008.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

[Rex]

1. A good cop would never impede a citizen from recording them

because a good cop has nothing to worry about. They are already following all the laws they expect the rest of us to follow.

[rock]

4. So how many of those do you suppose there are?

[Rex]

5. I would hope, thousands and thousands.

Me being the optimist, would say 90% of their workforce. Or maybe it is isolated, depending on country, state etc.. maybe one local PD can be completely above board and the next town over has a PD that is totally corrupt.

All I have is mere speculation.

[rock]

8. I certainly hope you're right!

[zeemike]

9. I think that is too optimistic.

I would guess 50% or less
I say that because of the fact that kind of work attracts the sociopath who loves power, and the PTB want that kind of cop on the force...kindred spirits and all.
And they make it exciting for them...like this.

?list=PLBBD9E339C7CECE2D

[Mariana]

10. 90%? I think that's unlikely.

Show me a bunch of videos that show the good cops stepping in to protect the victims of the bad cops, and I might believe it.

What we actually see, whenever we see video of cops abusing people, is that the other cops on the scene do nothing whatsoever to stop their colleagues and help the victims. Most of the time, they're actively participating in the abuse themselves.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. kick

[intaglio]

3. K&R

[woo me with science]

6. Ending police militarization=Taking on corporate politicians

Militarization of our police departments is a *bipartisan* effort of corporatists in both parties, right along with mass surveillance, the assaults on journalism, and the persecution of whistleblowers. The programs and legislation that are turning our police departments into paramilitary forces come through Homeland Security and the Pentagon, and are being used to suppress and intimidate dissent, exploit communities, and fill lucrative private prisons with slave labor as the nation is corporatized and Americans are made into a nation of low-paid wage slaves.

Both parties are complicit in this outrage. See the links below. Real change requires pushback against corporate politicians who are enabling this militarization, and that includes both corporate Democrats and Republicans.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The entire Democratic leadership opposed Grayson amendment to stop arming cops with DOD weapons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025390424

WOW... Went Looking For Connections Between Ferguson And ALEC... Found This Piece Of The Puzzle...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025413841

The exploitation of Ferguson I: In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

The exploitation of Ferguson II: The Seamy Underbelly Of Ferguson Starts To Appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416747

The exploitation of Ferguson III: Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025428157

Police Militarization (including the Obama administration's role)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/aclu-police-militarization-swat_n_2813334.html

It's almost certain that if the police agencies cooperate, the ACLU will find that the militarization trend has accelerated since Kraska's studies more than a decade ago. All of the policies, incentives and funding mechanisms that were driving the trend then are still in effect now. And most of them have grown in size and scope.

The George W. Bush administration actually began scaling down the Byrne and COPS programs in the early 2000s, part of a general strategy of leaving law enforcement to states and localities. But the Obama administration has since resurrected both programs. The Byrne program got a $2 billion surge in funding as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, by far the largest budget in the program's 25-year history. Obama also gave the COPS program $1.55 billion that same year, a 250 percent increase over its 2008 budget, and again the largest budget in the program's history. Vice President Joe Biden had championed both programs during his time in the Senate.

The Pentagon's 1033 program has also exploded under Obama. In the program's monthly newsletter (Motto: "From Warfighter to Crimefighter&quot , its director announced in October 2011 that his office had given away a record $500 million in military gear in fiscal year 2011, which he noted, "passes the previous mark by several hundred million dollars." He added, "I believe we can exceed that in FY 12.”

Then there are the Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorism grants. The Center for Investigative Reporting found in a 2011 investigation that since 2001, DHS has given out more than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used to purchase military-grade guns, tanks, armor, and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County, Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The final ACLU report on militarization of police in America
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

"Operation Urban Shield"...Training our Police, Fire, First Responders..in Military Tactics
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025412909

[notrightatall]

7. Cops should have Google s"street view" gear implanted on thier heads.

[Divernan]

11. What percentage of cops are vets w/possible PTSD?

Would like to see a peer-reviewed, academic study of military backgrounds of law enforcement personnel caught in the act/on video of abusive behavior.