Pen recorder
Just created an account today because although I've OC'd a couple of times, I hadn't made a big habit out of it until recently. The very first time I OC'd, I had a pocket recorder with me and had it in my front pocket on a pair of jeans. I was on a motorcycle heading to Taco Bell, and was pulled over because my right rear turn signal had gone out "no problem there, the officer was pretty understanding about that" He didn't even have any issue with me carrying on the bike, I told him the second he approached me that I was OC'ing and he said that was fine, he'd just pulled me over because I'd failed to signal. This led to a conversation about how I was pretty sure I had signaled, and that's when we discovered that my light was just out. Everything had gone great up until that point, but then he noticed my pocket recorder in my front pocket "I had to slide it up about halfway because it was digging into my leg while riding" and he asked if I'd been recording him the whole time. I wasn't going to lie to an officer, so I just told him yes, and that's when he seemed to get all hostile towards me, saying that there was no reason to be recording our conversation :uhoh:. So now I carry a $30 pen recorder I got off ebay that looks like nothing more than an ordinary pen. 1 click for just audio recording, 2 quick clicks for video as well. No more LEO's getting upset about it for no reason.
I know that didn't really apply much to what happened in the original post, but it is on topic with recoding LEO's while OC'ing. I still think the LEO really over reacted though.
As far as what happened to you, that really is over the top. I can understand why they hate those "clips" that can misconstrue a situation, but all that for just taking a picture?