Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Boston Cops get sued over cell phone recording

From the Globe today, we learn that the man Simon Glick who used his cell phone to record an arrest in Boston, who was charged with violating the States wire tap law, which was later dropped by prosecutors, is now suing the city. Yesterday, the ACLU filed a civil rights suit on behalf of criminal defense lawyer Simon Glick.

The suit contends that Mr. Glick's First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment right to freedom from arrest without probable cause were violated. With millions of cell phones in the hands of every day citizens, it's no wonder that the cops are looking over their shoulders when they are doing something wrong. Look for this case to be a game changer for free speech.

3 Comments:

At February 2, 2010 at 2:29 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

THis is a slippery slope here. Will be interesting to see who slides to the bottom first.

 
At February 3, 2010 at 11:35 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

What does this mean to me if I get stopped by a cop for something? Should I be pulling out my cell phone to record it or is that just going to get my arrested? What are the real world implication of this Pillsbury?

 
At February 3, 2010 at 3:48 PM , Blogger Jim Pillsbury said...

The real world tells us.. it's up in the air.. for now. If your pulled over, your cell phone should be off. Turning it on without the cop knowing it, is trouble. Letting him know your recording will meet with great resistance and threats and possibly arrest. Walking down the street with your cell phone recording someone pulled over, being arrested, searched, beaten or shot, may well get you in cuffs, but as the case in Boston proves already, when in public, anything goes and prosecutors know that much anyway.

I'm sure, most of you will recall, in the past few years, video recording from cell phones has shown so much abusive and violent behavior by law enforcement and others. In many cases, without that recording, justice would not have been served and the truth would have ben covered up. Even cop cameras have recorded some very violent actions taken against perpetrators and the innocent from around the country.

Hundreds of millions of people, now hold the truth card in their cell phones and the cops don't like it

 

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