Defective Products. Intellectual Property. Business and Commercial Law. Please provide a valid Zip Code or City and choose a category. Please choose a category from the list. Please select a city from the list and choose a category. Please enter a valid zip code or city. Please select a city from the list. Connecting ….
Are You a Lawyer? Grow Your Practice. Jose Rivera Managing Editor Editor. Last Updated: May 20, Choose Your Legal Category: Family. Criminal Defense. Real Estate. Until you ask to leave, your being stopped is considered voluntary under the law and is legal. If you are detained, politely ask what crime you are suspected of committing, and remind the officer that taking photographs is your right under the First Amendment and does not constitute reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Special considerations when videotaping With regards to videotaping, there is an important legal distinction between a visual photographic record fully protected and the audio portion of a videotape, which some states have tried to regulate under state wiretapping laws. However, in nearly all cases audio recording the police is legal. In states like Texas that allow recording with the consent of just one party to the conversation, you can tape your own interactions with officers without violating wiretap statutes since you are one of the parties regardless of location.
In situations where you are an observer but not a part of the conversation, you generally can record the audio in police interactions if they occur in public where there is no expectation of privacy. A summary of state wiretapping laws can be found here. As long as you do not interfere with what the officers are doing and do not stand close enough to obstruct their movements, you have the right to observe and record events that are plainly visible in public spaces.
Do not try to hide the fact that you are recording. Police officers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when performing their jobs, but the people they are interacting with may have privacy rights that would require you to notify them of the recording. In many states see here you must affirmatively make people aware that you are recording them. This includes photographing police officers and other law enforcement officials in public.
Can you take pictures while police officers are making an arrest or during civil unrest, such as a protest or riot? It is completely within your rights to photograph police officers conducting their duties at an incident scene, including while making arrests.
Police officers may legally ask you to stop only if your activities are impeding law enforcement activities. Though the law is clear and courts have consistently upheld these rights, in numerous cases individuals have been illegally harassed, detained , or arrested for taking pictures of police officers as well as other legally permissible subjects, such as transportation facilities and outside of federal buildings.
Multimedia journalist Carlos Miller has documented many of these cases on his blog, Photography is Not a Crime. Are there any public places where you can be arrested for taking photos of police? What about the airport? Yet still some officers do.
Last week, an amateur video appeared to show a U. Among these: Photographers can take pictures of anything in plain view from public space—including public officials—but private land owners may set rules for photography on their property.
0コメント