The odds of any one of us getting a recording, our recording, to initiate criminal proceedings against a LEO who has violated our rights and the law is microscopically small.
The odds that our recording will initiate a change in that LEOs department are far more likely. In a civil suit the odds that a payday for us is also increased. Recordings of encounters most likely will not lead to a courtroom but more likely a cash settlement. LE certainly does not want case law on the books piling up regarding amateur recordings used against ill-informed and/or under trained officers.
If you are involved in a negative encounter and have a recording that supports your "side of the story" and disproves the LEOs side of the story always get a formal letter that includes an admission of "wrong doing" and the corrective action to mitigate any future issues by the identified LEA, or you will proceed to a civil trial, if you have the money and time that is. If you don't, take the offered money, if any and run down to the nearest spy camera store and get a better recording device. Get a couple of them in case one is confiscated.
