imported post
The interesting thing about this article is the title, and all that it REALLY means...
LEO's are being trained (and supported by the courts) that a person with a video camera is AS MUCH A THREAT to "officer safety as a person with a gun.
That, people, is a VERY scary thing...
When public officials start to view the presence of video equipment as being JUST AS MUCH A THREAT as the presence of a gun, it makes a VERY powerful statement about the overall attitudes of LEAs toward the citizenry. It says that they view EVERYONE as the enemy, and that ANYONE who is trying to document their actions is assumed to be engaged in HOSTILE ACTIVITY.
These laws need to be changed.
It's OK for states and municipalities to mount surveillance cameras on every light pole. It's OK for the police to use dashcams to document their actions when it suits them. IT's also OK for these dashcams and pole mounted cameras to almost ALWAYS--in every case of questionable police activity--be found to be "non operational" and the video collected by the state is conveniently unavailable.
Ask John McKenna how he feels about MD's oppressive, unconstitutional "wiretapping" laws. If a citizen had not taped his beating at the hands of PG County police, that story would have played out a LOT differently....
