Comments on: In Spite of State Law, Maryland Law Enforcement Officials Still Arresting, Charging People for Recording Cops

By: In Spite of State Law, Maryland Law Enforcement Officials Still Arresting, Charging People for Recording Cops « My Rights in the USA

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:57:55 +0000

[...] http://www.theagitator.com/2010/05/29/in-spite-of-state-law-maryland-law-enforcement-officials-still... Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Categories: Photography, Police Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...]

By: keith goodwin

keith goodwin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:24:42 +0000

if i see the police doind a wrongfull act ima still record it for proof in court. i have rights to do so. the police uses this method all the time. if they try to lock me up for that im sure my lawyer and i will get paid. this is america the land of te free. also im tired of or crooked government officials and cops.

By: Maryland Attorney General Sides with Anthony Graber | Think Tank West

Maryland Attorney General Sides with Anthony Graber | Think Tank West — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:59:00 +0000

[...] opinion settles on its third possible outcome, agreeing with what I, Radley Balko, Carlos Miller, the Maryland ACLU, the Maryland courts, other Maryland State’s Attorneys, and the [...]

By: Valor Devalued | Truth and Justice For All

Valor Devalued | Truth and Justice For All — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:56:41 +0000

[...] exception to the law. Radley Balko, whose The Agitator blog I follow regularly, has now taken on the Maryland situation in light of some citizen-cop confrontations there, one of which appears on the brink of a gross [...]

By: Maryland cops trying to suppress evidence in their dealings with the public « HCS and Gen’s Place

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:03:12 +0000

[...] In Spite of State Law, Maryland Law Enforcement Officials Still Arresting, Charging People for Recor…. Filed under Anti-Americanism, New World Order Comment (RSS) | Trackback | Permalink [...]

By: Downer § Unqualified Offerings

Downer § Unqualified Offerings — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:44:42 +0000

[...] about the camouflage uniforms, I’m also talking about the ones in squad cars. Seeing people getting in trouble for taping police activities that take place in the open makes me despair for the future. I assume that the restrictions on taping cops will only get more [...]

By: Chattering Uncontrollably » Blog Archive » Nut jobs, Ohio being retarded, civil forfeiture, Maryland also being retarded.

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:26:29 +0000

[...] if you try to videotape an officer giving you a shady estimate of your driving speed, you can get sent to jail for 5 years. The cop can demand that you submit to a recording but not the other way around? Last I heard, [...]

By: jaycee

jaycee — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:36:14 +0000

Pimlico Policies from their website

Items that are OK to bring into Pimlico’s Infield and Top of the Stretch on Preakness Day:

Cellular Phones, Cameras (up to 35mm), Camcorders and Binoculars

Items that are OK to bring into Pimlico’s Grandstand and Clubhouse on Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness Days:

Cellular Phones, Cameras (up to 35mm), Camcorders and Binoculars.

http://www.preakness.com/pimlicoMaps

So a private property owner is noting in the private property owners rules that camcorders are allowed. So do the police think that paying ticket holders on private property are bringing the camcorders to just carry around.

By: The Liberty Papers »Blog Archive » Ohio Supreme Court Speeding Ruling Lowers Burden of Proof and Opens the Door Civil Liberty Abuse by Police

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:41:44 +0000

[...] Ohio police can now pull over someone for no reason at all, lie about his or her rights, and threaten to write a speeding ticket if the motorist fails to ‘cooperate.’ Some motorists might think it wise to make audio and/or video recordings of any such interaction with the police to ensure such abuses are documented or prevented but as Radley Balko reports, this can have its own set of risks.** [...]

By: Revise the Maryland Wiretap Law? | Think Tank West

Revise the Maryland Wiretap Law? | Think Tank West — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:11:40 +0000

[...] Radley Balko points out, the officers’ reading of the law is out of step with the language of the statute itself and [...]

By: Revise the Maryland Wiretap Law? | Austrian Economics Blog

Revise the Maryland Wiretap Law? | Austrian Economics Blog — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:04:15 +0000

[...] Radley Balko points out, the officers’ reading of the law is out of step with the language of the statute itself and [...]

By: Steve Verdon

Steve Verdon — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:53:24 +0000

Porcupine Picayune,

You are a fool to think that the feds are going to come down on the side of the citizen. I know its nice to pretend that there is pony somewhere inside government, but the reality is that it is filled up with nothing but power hungry parasites.

By: JS

JS — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:11:11 +0000

#60

Wow Yizmo, See I wouldn’t have known to do all that crap. I get an education reading y’all on here.

By: Yizmo Gizmo

Yizmo Gizmo — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:41:45 +0000

I got caught up in my own video-related brouhaha in 2002 in FLA.
They wouldn’t release the video of the cop pulling me over.
He had recently shot (and killed) someone who was unarmed, so PR was an issue.
The atty was too chickenshit to get it. I said compel it then with a motion.
She said no. I said I’d go to the bar. She said go ahead. I went to the bar with a complaint. She (eventually) got disbarred. Case fell apart when video
demanded by new atty.
I sued her (orig atty) in small claims and won.
Shows ya how “in bed” some lawyers are with the system.

By: Over the River

Over the River — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:54:31 +0000

Thank you for the follow-up to my #52.

I wanted my point to be about police activity that should be brought to light. I do agree we will always see fewer stories about sunshine, lollipops, and (not-shot) puppy dog tails, regardless of the media.

I feel one of the greatest values of this site, and Mr. Balko’s press appearances, is to educate the public (including law makers) that police activities like these do little to protect the public welfare, and actually harm the ability of LEO to gain public support for what they should be doing.

I am old enough to remember when news was printed once a day and access to information was what someone allowed you to read. The Internet (and WWW) has allowed instant, far reaching coverage of things needing exposure. The Internet also allows for our comments and our spreading the word.

You are all correct we need to see these stories; and shining a light on what could have been covered up is critical to our ability to participate in a democracy. We as a nation, are what we allow.

By: anarch

anarch — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:02:38 +0000

@ Albatross #56 – Attributed to Pauline Kael in 1972: “How can Nixon have won? Nobody I know voted for him.”

By: SJE

SJE — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:06:48 +0000

Albatross: I would agree that most cops don’t abuse, beat, kill, or steal from most people they encounter. Of course, if you were a black male in a rough neighborhood, your experience of police would be considerably more jaundiced: most black people I know have been given a hard time at least once for no reason.
Nevertheless, the fact that most cops do not abuse, beat, kill or steal most people they encounter is insufficient reason to be alarmed at those who do. This is because (a) the cops that do this should not do so and (b) far too many cops, even if they do not abuse, beat etc, will cover for their buddies, and their union will and leaders will do everything possible to prevent accountability. Such corruption enables greater abuse and undermines the rule of law and society by destroying respect for authority in general.

To put it in an entirely different way: to say that you have encountered police but have not been harmed is evidence that they can be trusted is like saying that because most people in Florida have not been eaten by alligators we should trust them enough to have an alligator as a family pet.

By: albatross

albatross — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:50:42 +0000

I think real-world versions of that story are extremely common, so common they’re not news. Otherwise, we’d all be scared to death of the cops all the time. Instead, most of the time, people being assholes to the cops simply get the ticket they might have talked their way out of, or get a “have a nice day sir” from a cop thinking “what an asshole.” But some fraction of the time, the cop realizes he can get away with beating the hell out of the guy who’s mouthing off to him, or can just pick some guy he doesn’t like the look of and use him to get even with life.

We don’t know how often the cops misbehave, for a bunch of reasons. (Coverups, ambiguous evidence, criminals who are more concerned with getting out of jail time than suing for police brutality, etc.) But I’ve had maybe a dozen interactions with the cops at any significant level in my life, and they’ve never been worse than formally polite with me. Never. That’s what most people I know also have experienced. That’s just not consistent with most cops misbehaving most of the time.

By: Peter Ramins

Peter Ramins — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:54:17 +0000

I can see “Student not beaten by police” as an Onion headline though.

It would be really funny at first, but leave you angry.

By: SJE

SJE — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:43:25 +0000

#52: Of course: stories like “area man was not killed today in a horrifying accident” or “student was not beaten by police” are not going to make the news. At the same time, we really do not know the real numbers of abuse, because the abusers cover their tracks.