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Supreme Court Blocks Illinois Law Against Recording Police
An anonymous reader writes "The Illinois anti-eavesdropping law was cut down slightly. While protecting the average citizen from eavesdropping, it also put in place prohibitions against recording the police as they were doing their jobs. An appeals court sided with the ACLU, saying that it was too great a restriction on First Amendment rights. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, cementing in place the lower court's ruling. In Illinois, you can now secretly record the police."
I think most cop shops are afraid of something happening like occurred with the video of Rodney King's beatdown, in which the news snipped off crucial sections in which King repeatedly lunged at police. In addition, they tended not to mention his 100+mph evasion attempt, his prior criminal record or his extensive drug use. We all know how that turned out.
Finally the line "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" can be used against law enforcement. Since law enforcement agencies across the country are adopting ever more invasive tactics to monitor citizens, it's refreshing to see that we can finally monitor them without fear of reprisal.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
Secretly? How about openly? I'd say that you'd better record secretly if you don't want to spend the night in jail and get hit with some BS resisting arrest charge or the like.
There are plenty of officers who don't like the idea of being recorded, and their reasoning varies from concerns about "Monday morning quarterbacking" to the sociopaths not wanting to get caught abusing their power. Still, if they can record us, we should be able to record them.
I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
The problem is that mopes and dopes got 98% of the votes 3 weeks ago.
If you're doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear officer.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
I love it.
Cops and other forms of authority are always telling people that if they are doing nothing wrong, then they shouldn't be concerned about a lack of privacy.
Right back at you Police Officers. If you are doing your job without breaking the law you have no reason to be concerned about me recording you.
You don't mind getting roughed up a little and sitting in jail for an
evening on trumped up charges and then paying for a lawyer to
eventually dismiss your charges for which you file a complaint that
is ultimately ignored.
I'm all for a limit on how long someone can be a cop before they are required to get an honest job.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
That is fantastic news that the DoJ is finally help people remember the ancient wisdom:
Authority NEEDS to be balanced with Accountability.
Authority without accountability leads to Totalitarianism
Accountability without authority leads to Bureaucracy.
The problem is all your "training" is worth exactly piss as long as resisting arrest and disorderly conduct are on the books, because frankly both of those laws are written so damned vague (on purpose i would argue) that saying "What is the charge?" is enough to get those charges slapped on you, and once you rot in a jail cell for a week or so (remember they can hold up to 5 days without charge in most places) they will have their "chilling effect" and insure that nobody dare not "respect my authority!".
Of course there is a reason why in poor neighborhoods most wouldn't piss on a cop if he were on fire, its because the heavy handed skull cracking jackbooted thug bullshit has been going on far too long. Everyone thinks having a camera to record this thug behavior will help but for all those people I invite you to watch the largest gang in America and to realize that the majority if these, even when caught on camera, did NOT go to jail or even lose their jobs, despite overwhelming evidence of them cracking skulls and being...well gangbangers with badges.
So good luck with your training doing shit friend. I live on the "meth highway" and I had a friend who was a cop that quit in disgust, he said it had gotten to the point that he viewed his fellow officers as more of an enemy than the crooks! He said the few good ones left aren't gonna say shit about the others thanks to the code of silence, and he was surrounded by cops that were in it for the "Training day" style corruption or that were bullies that simply wanted a badge to crack the skulls of those they didn't like. Having a camera won't do shit because the corruption is too deep, too many of them are in it for the money or the ability to inflict pain, and as long as they can walk even after getting caught on camera then all the "training" in the world ain't gonna do shit.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
When you're levelling a blanket insult at a group of people, and that group comprises 98% of your compatriots, it's time to consider the possibility that maybe you're not perfect.
No I really want good cops. but if they are not turning in the bad cops then how can you say they are good cops. When they witness a crime or abuse of authority (which, let's be honest, should be a crime) then they have proven they are no better then the ones committing the acts. The thin blue line isn't there to protect "good" cops.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.