David Preston
The headline is misleading, because this case is not about whether you have a right to film cops. You do have a right to film them as long as you’re not interfering; that’s been established. But it’s the cop, not you, who gets to decide whether you’re interfering, and if a cop tells you to stop filming and you refuse, then you will be up on a charge of “interfering with an official act.”
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You can always ask for the cop’s badge number and file a complaint later. And if the cop was using bad judgment, you can get some satisfaction there. But you can’t simply refuse to follow a cop’s order on the grounds that you think you’re in the right. And that’s as it should be. Think about the chaos that would result if that were not the case.
The issue has come up with increasing frequency as cellphones have proliferated and more attention has been paid to police interactions with citizens, and may set…
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