When Simon Glik publicly recorded a group of Boston cops doing something they shouldn't be doing, he was threatened and then arrested by a crackpot cop who boasted, "I've been doing this for thirty years and there's nothing you can hold over my head."
The result? A federal court ruling that [a href="http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2011/victory-recording-public"]videotaping police is an unambiguous and constitutionally protected right[/a]. It's legal, and that's that.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
In February 2010, Glik filed suit in federal court against both the officers and the City of Boston under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Massachusetts[a href="http://www.citmedialaw.org/glossary/8/letterc#term206" class="glossary-term"][abbr title="In terms of actions under law, civil refers to conflicts between private individuals."][/abbr][/a] Civil Rights Act.
Glik alleged that the police officers had violated his First Amendment right to record police activity in public and that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him without probable cause to believe a crime had occurred. And the Supreme Court agreed.
The First Circuit ruling states that "Glik was exercising clearly-established First Amendment rights in filming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause."
Some other juicy quotes from the landmark ruling:
[ul][li] "Is there a constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public? Basic First Amendment principles, along with case law from this and other circuits, answer that question unambiguously in the affirmative." [/li][li] "Glik filmed the defendant police officers in the Boston Common, the oldest city park in the United States and the apotheosis of a public forum. In such traditional public spaces, the rights of the state to limit the exercise of First Amendment activity are 'sharply circumscribed.'" [/li][li]"A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment."[/li][li] "Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting 'the free discussion of governmental affairs.'" [/li][/ul]From all of us that value liberty and the First Amendment, THANK YOU Simon Glik!
