I’m not sure what else could be said or written to make the folks aware of the urgency of this situation. There is a serious war being waged on ordinary folks at all levels, the most under reported involves the police who are rapidly going from state to state passing laws to make it illegal to not only videotape but also to simply take photographs..
Last week we told you about a case involving legendary producer Dr Dre who was facing a $3 BILLION dollar lawsuit for recording a police officer involved in a backstage dispute in Detroit. That case had been winding its way the Michigan court system for almost 10 years and finally made its way to the State Supreme Ct… many dismissed this and saw it as no big deal..
Now we have a man who is looking at 75 years in jail for videotaping the police.. Read the Alternet story below… While reading this ask yourself, what steps are you taking to fight back? Are you calling your congress person? Are you talking to local officials? Today its them.. Tomorrow it could be you who is caught up in some drama..
Also keep in mind that while police are busy pushing to pass these laws we have officers in Los Angeles lying to the public claiming they were shot.. Yes, you read that correctly… Two weeks ago a police officer said he was shot prompting 300 of his fellow officers to aggressively respond, They shut down schools, closed off streets and went running determined to find the culprit.. Turns out the officer who was shot lied.. You can read that story here in the LA Times
Folks may wanna take a listen to this important conversation we had on hard Knock Radio with privacy expert and lawyer King Downy about police and videotaping http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/66995
-Davey D-
75-Year Prison Sentence for Taping the Police? The Absurd Laws That Criminalize Audio and Video Recording in America
Last January, Michael Allison, a 41-year-old mechanic from Bridgeport, Illinois, went to court to protest what he saw as unfair treatment from local police officers. Allison is an auto enthusiast who likes to tinker with cars, several of which he keeps on his mother’s property in the neighboring town of Robinson. Because both towns have “eyesore,” or abandoned property rules that require inoperable cars to be either registered or kept in a garage (which neither house had, and which Allison could not afford to build), Allison’s cars were repeatedly impounded by local officials.
Allison sued the city of Bridgeport in 2007, arguing that the eyesore law violated his civil rights and that the city was merely trying to bilk revenues from impound fees. This apparently enraged the local police, who, Allison alleges, began harassing him at home and threatening arrest when Allison refused to get rid of his cars.
Shortly before his January 2010 court date, Allison requested a court reporter for the hearing, making it clear to the county clerk that if one was not present he would record the proceedings himself.
With the request for a court reporter denied, Allison made good on his promise to bring his own audio recorder with him to the courthouse. Here’s what happened next, as reported by Radley Bilko in the latest issue of Reason magazine:
Just after he walked through the courthouse door the next day, Allison says Crawford County Circuit Court Judge Kimbara Harrell asked him whether he had a tape recorder in his pocket. He said yes. Harrell then asked him if it was turned on. Allison said it was. Harrell then informed the defendant that he was in violation of the Illinois wiretapping law, which makes it a Class 1 felony to record someone without his consent. “You violated my right to privacy,” the judge said.
Allison responded that he had no idea it was illegal to record public officials during the course of their work, that there was no sign or notice barring tape recorders in the courtroom, and that he brought one only because his request for a court reporter had been denied. No matter: After Harrell found him guilty of violating the car ordinance, Allison, who had no prior criminal record, was hit with five counts of wiretapping, each punishable by four to 15 years in prison. Harrell threw him in jail, setting bail at $35,000.
That’s up to 75 years in prison for breaking a law Allison did not know existed, and which he violated in the name of protecting himself from what he saw as an injustice.
As Bilko points out, Allison’s case may be extreme, but he is hardly alone in facing outsized punishment for efforts to combat police wrongdoing. Take Christopher Drew and Tiawanda Moore, two Chicagoans highlighted in the New York Times last week. Drew, a 60-year-old artist, faces up to 15 years in prison for using a digital video recorder during his December 2009 arrest for selling art without a permit. Drew had planned on getting arrested in protest of the permit law, which he saw as a violation of artists’ rights. He was unaware that filming the ordeal was illegal.
Likewise, Moore, a 20-year-old Southside resident, did not know it was illegal to record a conversation she had with two police officers last August, and she too faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years for doing so. Moore’s case is especially troubling because she was in the process of filing a complaint with the two officers about a third officer, who Moore alleges sexually harassed her in her home. She told the Times that she “was only trying to make sure no other women suffered at the hands of the officer” by making the recording. Presumably, she was also trying to protect herself in case she faced another lewd advance. Instead, the officers tried to talk her out of filing her complaint and then slapped her with eavesdropping charges when they found out her Blackberry was recording.
continue reading this story over at Alternet