As we all know, St. Louis, Missouri has been under siege for days now, following the shooting death of yet another unarmed young black man by police, Michael Brown. Protests have inevitably followed, prompting a shocking response from police, heavily outfitted with body armor, assault rifles, and military equipment, such as tanks. With mainstream media’s coverage lacking, a large amount of footage has been coming in via social media users, and dedicated journalists like Washington Post’s Wesley Lowrey and Huff Post’s Ryan Reilly, both of whom were actually illegally told to stop filming by police, and subsequently arrested.
The thing is, as long as you are not interfering with a police officer’s duty to do their job, it’s totally legal to film the police while they’re performing their public civil servant duties. They have no right to stop you, confiscate your phone or camera, or delete the footage.
Although some states have laws that you can’t record someone without their consent, Federal courts have long held that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police in the commission of their duties. Under Obama, the Department of Justice has also backed up the federal court’s stance by reminding police departments they are not allowed to harass citizens for recording them.
The Department of Justice wrote the following to the U.S. District Court in Maryland:
“The right to record police officers while performing duties in a public place, as well as the right to be protected from the warrantless seizure and destruction of those recordings, are not only required by the Constitution. They are consistent with our fundamental notions of liberty, promote the accountability of our government officers, and instill public confidence in the police officers who serve us daily.”
Sadly, it seems that the St. Louis Police Department either isn’t familiar with the Constitution, or hasn’t seen that memo yet.
For a full run down on your rights, you can check out the American Civil Liberties Union’s website here.
