TheAgitator.com
Another Illinois Arrest for Recording a Cop
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011It’s interesting that the local DA dropped the charges in this case. But only after the guy spent a night in jail.
“I’m just an ordinary citizen. I was on my way to the movies, and all of a sudden I’m facing a felony and 15 years in prison,” Frobe told ABC7.
Frobe calls it the worst experience of his life. He was on his way to a late evening movie on an August night last year when he was stopped for speeding in far north suburban Lindenhurst. He didn’t believe he was in a 35-mile-an-hour zone, and he figured if he was going to get ticket he wanted to be able to document his challenge with video evidence, so he got out his flip camera, which he was not very adept at using.
At one point he held it out the window trying to record where he was. When the officer, being recorded on his squad dash cam, walked back to Frobe’s car, the officer saw Frobe’s camera.
Officer: “That recording? Frobe : “Yes, Yes, I’ve been… Officer: “Was it recording all of our conversation? Frobe: “Yes. Officer: “Guess what? You were eavesdropping on our conversation. I did not give you permission to do so. Step out of the vehicle.”
Louis Frobe was then cuffed and arrested for felony eavesdropping.
“I was terrified. I was absolutely terrified. I was begging him, I said I didn’t know about this law. Would you please take the camera – this is no big deal – and smash it. You know I didn’t know about the law,” Frobe told ABC7.
Frobe spent a night in the Lake County jail and was released on bond the next day. Later the charges against him were dropped, but so angry was Louis Frobe that he decided to file a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s eavesdropping law.
“And they had audio and they had video on me, but I’m not allowed to do it to them. I’m in a private car on a public street and it’s a public official. Why shouldn’t I be able to record what’s going on to prove my innocence?” he said.
In some countries, the police can and will arrest you or beat the hell out of you for recording them, especially if they’re smacking someone else around. It’s best to remember this, in case you’re traveling to one of those countries, like Syria or Bahrain or China or the United States. People from civilized countries could get badly hurt by expecting things to be run the way they are in their home countries.
Hey, that DA’s just a big pal to everyone, doing him the awesome favor of not pressing charges… yet.
Who wants to bet that those charges, and many more, might make a triumphant return if this guy continues to press his federal suit?
More New Professionalism – http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/09/27/i-team-catches-on-duty-revere-police-officer-spending-hours-at-home/
“He’s not a motivated officer”. That’s an interesting statement.
Bad driver.
I hope he learned his lesson.
Remember, police, like detritus and other forms of scum,
thrive on dark, damp places, and can be killed or injured by light, brightness and other forms of illuminating energy.
I wonder how long before the dash cam evidence is “lost”
@3, it’s a management and supervision issue. He can’t possibly be A BAD EMPLOYEE of The State. All cops are good and only need more training and supervision. And despite being staffed at 86% (who comes up with the # of officers needed is beyond me), they have money for overtime that is “forced”? Sounds like a town with too many cops and a way to make a quick buck.
I bet the cop had a boner when Frobe begged to have his camera destroyed.
Yet another example of Radley’s creating Libertarians theory?
“Eavesdropping”?!? How the hell can someone eavesdrop on a conversation that he was participating in? Is there any aspect of these recording-on-duty-cops-in-public laws that doesn’t just scream “fucktard”?
Ahh, I was going to comment on that very thing. “You were eavesdropping on our conversation.” That’s a fucktard, yes.
It seems obvious to me (and most people here) that the police use the “catch & release” game to torment people who have done nothing more than offend the officer’s feelings. Contempt of Cop, they call it.
They (police) know the citizen will be released in a few hours, the charges they drum up being mostly lies. It is those few hours in jail that are so heinous and terrifying. Some people suffer from PTSD-like symptoms after a night in jail, but everybody suffers. That’s what the cops want – they want you to suffer and be terrorized, and then released.
Therefore, the police are terrorists.
Protect & Serve (Themselves!)
I hate this sort of bullying. I really do. I suspect many juries would hate it too. Please take this to trial and to a verdict. Please.
“Officer: “That recording? Frobe : “Yes, Yes, I’ve been… Officer: “Was it recording all of our conversation? Frobe: “Yes. Officer: “Guess what? You were eavesdropping on our conversation. I did not give you permission to do so. Step out of the vehicle.”
Louis Frobe was then cuffed and arrested for felony eavesdropping.”
I like how the officer’s only apparent motivation for trying to destroy this man’s life (felony conviction, lengthy prison term) is basically the same as Hilary’s for climbing Everest. “Technically, I can now ruin you. And that’s just what I’m going to do.” Gone from “To serve and protect,” to “We will END you at the first opportunity.”
I wonder if he did a little end-zone dance after spouting off his pithy “Guess what?” speech.
Joe: It is very very expensive and difficult to file a Federal case on this sort of thing. The usual remedy for police misconduct is exclusion of the evidence. If there is no charge, then the matter is moot. As a result, cops can bully with almost impunity.
via boingboing, NM couple refuses entry to errant DEA raid:
http://boingboing.net/2011/09/28/new-mexico-couple-says-no-to-dea-drug-raid.html
I now have to wonder how many of the mistakes we’ve heard of were warrantless.
Illinois.
Another state added to the growing states I plan to never visit.
California. New York. New Jersey. Massachusetts.
@ 16: You should know better than that. It isn’t a warrantless raid if they can get a tame judge to issue a sealed warrant after the fact.
I especially liked the part about guns drawn but not pointed at anyone. There’s a gentleman in prison in New Hampshire right now for that very thing (search: Ward Bird).
The cop was ignorant of the law. I thought that warrants a paid suspension and retraining?
Oh, wait a minute! I read that wrong. The kid was the one ignorant of the law. Well, through the book at him — that’s the way it works!
Throw the book… (Is of course what I meant to write.)
Damn happy hour!
I grew up in Lindenhurst. I left nearly 20 years ago when the cops were petty, petulant little tyrants with little to do beyond harassing high school kids out after curfew. I am not even slightly surprised that a Lindenhurst cop pulled this little stunt.
And this isn’t the first time that town’s been profiled on The Agitator.
Okay, how about this? If a cop expects everything he says to be private, then do we have to follow any orders he gives us? If it’s private, I can’t hear it.
Are the NYPD actively targeting cameras at the Occupy Wall Street protests? Their spokesman says absolutely not, of course, but this report by a WNET reporter who got arrested suggests they are.
http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/news/2011/09/observations-of-a-jailed-journalist/
When this gets to the supreme court, they will review the threat consider what is going on now on wall-street, when the people are able to bypass the established propaganda machine. . they will rule in favor of the ruling class and declare that Americans do not have a first amendment right to record officers. Sorry you googly eyed believers in justice. The supreme court rarely gives a crap about Peasants. DO you people really believe you are in a free country. I hope I am wrong.
It’s patently obvious from the history of this law that it’s sole purpose is to protect government officials, and especially law enforcement, from accountability for unethical, embarrassing or illegal activity.
It’s also quite clear that it’s unconstitutional. And the lawmakers who drafted it and who voted for it, as well as any cop who arrests someone for it, and any prosecutor who goes forward with prosecution, knows it. It’s not remotely plausible that any of them don’t know it’s unconstitutional. And they all took oaths to “defend, uphold and protect the constitution” or some variation. Which means they are all, with malice and forethought, oathbreakers.
Surprise! You’ve broken a law! Betcha didn’t know we had a law for that, huh? Well, live and learn. Step out of the car, please. A decade in the SLAMMER ought to set you straight!
For the life of me I don’t understand why the police are fighting this issue. Everyone, and I mean everyone, I have spoken to, is adamant that people have the right to record police officers who are on duty, in uniform, and in public, as long as they do not physically interfere. This is a losing battle for them. I guess their determination to fight this shows how out of touch they are with the level of mistrust that truly exists toward the police.
Kidnapping under color of law. Hang the pig.
Frobe shouldn’t just be filing a civil lawsuit, he should be filing criminal charges against the perp who kidnapped him and violated his civil rights under color of authority. If the local prosecutors won’t take it to court, he should be calling for mass protests to get both the original perp and the accomplices after the fact charged with federal crimes.
-jcr
15 for recording a cop
20 for killing one
the satisfaction is worth the five
jselvy: You’re in the wrong place for that shit.
#14 nails it. The cop has no injuries, but decides he can now ruin this guy’s life…so he does…with full force…and LOVES IT!
Cops are terrible human beings.
That’s not how the SC works. They pick and choose what cases to hear usually based on how they want to clearly define how the state has complete power.
Sorry to be politically incorrect, but “jselvy” has a point. If a jackboot tried to put me in a cage for 15 years for recording him talking to ME, in PUBLIC, why shouldn’t I at least do the world a favor and shoot the fascist bastard? At least then there MIGHT be an incentive for the next power-happy jackboot to think twice before acting like a Nazi. Do you see anything else slowing down the police state BS going on? I don’t. I wish I did. But like JFK said, when you make peaceful change impossible, you make violent change inevitable.
Why shouldn’t I be able to record what’s going on to prove my innocence?” he said.
Because the POLICE don’t want YOU to be able to prove anything. They love he said- she said because they are accomplished liers Read a police report once. Better read 10 and notice the repetition of key pharases (those that excuse police and convict you).
The police are not in the Justice business but, rather, they are in the dominance business. Men who wouldn’t be noticed in a crowd no invited to dinner at anyone’s house, put on a badge and suddenly grow some spind. With power they can engender fear (which they believe is respect). No wonder their marriages don’t last. Thugs in Blue.
Jselvy does have an interesting point. When a law is so draconian as to be no different than murder laws, then the accused/convicted has nothing to lose, really. I can’t see that being preferable to law enforcement.
How long before this thing reaches critical mass? Seems to be getting worse at an accelerating rate.
If I am to die at the hands of a corrupt law enforcement system, it is my civic duty to take as many with me as I can so that my fellow citizens have less to worry about. A string of deaths related to the crushing of the right and liberties of citizens in the ‘enforcement’ class may just have the effect mention in ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ (google it).