Americans have the right to film police in public, court rules

Published time: 8 Jul, 2017 00:57

US citizens have the right to film police performing their duties, a three-judge panel of judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled, overturning a Philadelphia court decision against two people who filmed on-duty police.

Writing the opening opinion for Friday’s ruling was Judge Thomas Ambro, who cited the famous Rodney King case from 1991, when Los Angeles police were filmed beating King. Judge Ambro said that “filming police on the job was rare then, but common now.”

“These recordings have both exposed police misconduct and exonerated officers from errant charges,” he said. Ambro added that “this increase in the observation, recording and sharing of police activity has contributed greatly to our national discussion of proper policing.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/395680-recording-police-lawsuit/

https://www.aclu.org/news/federal-appeals-court-rules-there-first-a...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/a-major-victor...