Videotaping the Police
 

Nice ride till the end ...



Link

16 years for what???????

I don't see how the police or anyone else has "A reasonable expectation of privacy" when in a public place.

Seems like strong-arm tactics. This guy's helmet cam is a much different thing than some dude with a camera getting in the way of police doing their job and "Causing confusion and delay." To borrow a phrase.

Yeh - I don't think the officer did anything wrong either. The guy was backing up his cycle - perhaps trying to flee or run over the cop...

I just don't get it at all.

Given only the info in the video...

An unmarked gray car stops in front of me. Some guy gets out, pulls a gun and yells something at me to get off the motorcycle and comes all the way and puts his hand on the gas tank before saying anything about "State Police"... no uniform and did not show any badge or credentials.

I would fear for my life.

Seems to me the "officer" did quite a few things wrong.

Seriously, you want to play Evel Knievel, take it to a race track. Every time I see one doing shit like that, I hope to see them lay it down (and not get injured, of course).

I have a term for them...future organ donors.

I see nothing wrong with what the cop did.

The wrong thing the cops are doing is charging him with wiretapping.

A cop isn't a cop until they identify themselves to you. If they are wearing a uniform or a badge, they are a cop the instant you see them. If a plainclothes cop waives a gun around for a few seconds before identifying themselves, they are risking being shot by a law abiding person in fear for their lives. Cop would have been wise to identify himself with the first words out of his mouth. But he did nothing wrong by waiting a couple seconds. All he did was put his own life at risk.

Motorcycle dude did not break the law when he recorded the audio of the cop without his permission. It wasn't a private conversation. The cop was acting in his official capacity. The Maryland law was passed in order to protect private conversations between citizens. Not to protect police from embarrassment.

If the cop, Maryland State Trooper Joseph D. Uhler, is behind these charges, then we can only conclude that he has a small penis. This is especially true since we saw him pull a gun on someone when there was no weapon visible.

The prosecutor who is pushing for putting a National Guard staff sergeant in prison for 16 years for this is the true villain. State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly is a first rate prick. Remember his name. If you live in MD and he is ever up for election, vote against him.

Dayum! Look at glatt go! Easy there big guy.

In case you guys didn't notice, it wasn't just 82 MPH, it was also 127 MPH. At those speeds, motorcycle is definitely a deadly weapon. Trooper should have flashed his badge before flashing his gun, however.
As for wire tap, trooper cars have dash cams, why isn't the ACLU protesting those?

I don't think you thought that one through.

The motorcycle driver is being prosecuted for, essentially, having a dash cam. The ACLU is defending him.

Here is a partial quote from this link:

"Dashboard videocams

Complicating the issue: Maryland state troopers record traffic stops themselves, using dashboard cameras that were installed in all patrol cars as a result of a 2003 settlement with the state ACLU over racial profiling."

A cop needs a warrant to wiretap. If a dash cam is wiretapping, I wonder if they'd like to have to get a warrant every time they left the parking lot.

I agree, the badge should has been the very first thing. Saying, "State Police" doesn't mean jack shit without a badge.

This deserves repeating. Joseph D Uhler... small penis, got it. Joseph Cassilly... first rate prick, got it. Glatt rocks.

Agreed. Anybody could yell out, "State Police!", but the badge is real proof. 16 years seems like overboard to me.

I agree. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy between a cop and a person being arrested in public. The problem is that if they take the video from someone they can do whatever they want with it and give it back to you blank. The charge is bogus.

Pretty much unanimous on this one.

No way is this wiretapping. This is bully-cops trying to make themselves immune from criticism.

I recall a documentary about the civil rights movement, there was a case where it was found in court that a citizen has the right to observe a police officer in the course of their duty provided they didn't get in the way. I think that extends to cover this.

I've said it before, but I think this right is far more important than bearing arms. The right to observe and record the police and the government, and to publish that information, is the key front against tyranny. In most western countries there are enough legal and constitutional mechanisms to keep the government in its place, but these mechanisms must be vigilantly used and guarded.

I'm speaking as an outsider, but, USA ... fight this one. It must be legal to criticise and embarrass the police.

Esp when they are in the wrong. The recent case of the cop shooting and killing the handcuffed guy is a good case. 20 years ago that would have been swept under the rug. Use of recent technology prevents that from happening, at least in this case.

This is the trump card: Almost EVERYWHERE you go, you are on camera. Nobody asks your permission to record you. When an ATM camera catches you going down the street in the background do the police not arrest you if you are caught on that camera committing a crime? Answer, THEY DO! No warrant.

If you are in a public place, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. This why all those cameras are legal. Police officers are not exempt from this just because they wear a blue uniform or black quasi-military fatigues.

My personal opinion is that the motorcyclist's video taping/recording comes under Freedom of Speech.

The law doesn't apply to cameras but to audio recordings. That's why he's in trouble. There was audio to go along with the video of the cop.

But because the cop was performing his official public duty, the audio law doesn't apply here either.

Personally I don't care for police. Not because I'm a criminal but because I think most think their shit doesn't stink and get a little cocky with their authority. Bullies if you will.

Yeah that attitude many of them have is annoying... especially when they are off duty. But in fairness, when they're working, they never know when the shit will hit the fan, so when they approach any situation they have to seize control immediately. Being large & in charge, helps to keep anything from escalating. They have no way of knowing if you're a friend or foe, and a mistake could be fatal. I'm just thankful somebody is willing to do the job... and I try to avoid any contact. ;)

You might feel differently when one saves your life while risking his or her own.
But hey, many of them do have attitude. I think you need to have some serious attitude to wake up every day and do the JOB they do. I can't imagine getting up every morning thinking that I may die today cuz some crackhead is flippin out or some shithead doesn't know how to drive or isn't paying attention ...


Just my worthless opinion, we all got one.

I guess the bottom line is the kid should have been stopped. But pull a gun?

I think it is in Fl that the HWP is just getting close enough to the sport bike racers to get a pic of the license plate on thier dash cams and then going to their house the next day and empounding the bike. That seems like a much better solution.

Nobody is saying the kid on the bike wasn't reckless. He was dangerous and got a ticket for it. He's not fighting that ticket. I'd be happy if he spent like a month in jail for driving like that.

But the issue of charging him for wiretapping and trying to throw him in jail for 16years is a huge leap.

I doubt he had a dash-cam, being a "plainclothes state trooper", in an unmarked car. Those guys usually don't get involved is traffic bullshit, but apparently this one was annoyed enough to get involved. Plainclothes troopers often work undercover, with may be another reason the video freaked them out, but that's not enough justification to persecute this guy.

Isn't charging the guy the District Attorneys call, not the officers?

Yes. That's why State’s Attorney Joseph Cassilly is the true villain here.

Agreed. However, while it's his call in the end, I don't think its likely that the cops didn't ask him to do it.

In some states (ie Pennsylvania), it is illegal to record (ie on a cell phone camera) a cop doing his job. If it is not photographed, then there will be no Rodney Kings.

A great deal of the cameras taking your pic in public places have audio.

God forbid we point out faults of cops. :lol:

I would not defend the cop for pulling his weapon. I would defend him for stopping the idiot on the bike. I would also defend the biker from being charged with anything other then a moving violation.

Well I agree. The guy on the bike had no reason for driving that fast.

Indeed, bike guy is a grade one dickhead, and I thank the officer for stopping him before he killed someone.

I'm even okay with the officer coming out with a preemptive gun draw - bike guy could well be armed and dangerous - but he should have had the badge out at the same time.

The line on taping police is kind of fuzzy, there is no definite laws about it. But this can go from something that is protected by the first amendment to a felony. I believe it was in Pennsylvania that police have an expected right to privacy, but you don't.

Furthermore, it is very convenient how often those dash board cameras don't work when the police are at fault.

IMHO the problem with police is that they have vast authority they can make you whatever they want and if you don't they will kill you and can get away with it 99% of the time.

I'm not sure if that is really a cause/effect situation or more of a coincidence. I mean, who is really going to name their kid Rodney King in this day and age?

In one year, the name Kunta Kinte replaced Michael as the most popular boy's name.

Still waiting to meet a Kunta Kinte.

Sorry tw, but that is too easy to prove false.

No names starting with the letters "kun" have ever been in the top 1000 most popular names in the US.

Well it should have been. He later went on to become the Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise.

I couldn't think of a more appropriate place to post this picture than in this thread.

:lol:

Finally, some sanity.

Thank you, Circuit Court Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr., for throwing out the wiretapping charges against motorcycle driving speed freak Air National Guard staff sergeant Anthony Graber.

And Cassilly is still an ass.

Graber still faces charges for speeding and reckless driving, as he should.

NAh - he's got a point there. Then again maybe he should be more interested in how the current administration is trying to expand their wiretapping into emails... Thats scary, but for another thread... If I could only find it.

it's not the administration that is asking for that expansion.

It is the FBI.

I think the Judge ruled correctly, and it will be interesting to see if it's appealed.

The guy didn't walk, he's paying a stiff price for his folly. Not only a pile of expensive citations, and probably some lost driving privileges, but he lost his shirt selling the bike. He didn't say so, but I suspect it was to appease his employers. At least he avoided 16 years in jail.

Find the other thread please .....