01-17-2013, 04:27 AM
As far as "legality", the Supreme Court has decreed that filming "in public" is perfectly okay, even when it includes law enforcement.
The police do not like being filmed and will make up reasons to take your camera; they use the official term "confiscate", but it's really just plain "theft", and your electronics will be damaged and/or missing the footage (if you get it back at all). There are smartphone apps that stream live video "into the cloud" where it's beyond the reach of local law enforcement.
Most recent example: a witness who filmed an incident which happened to include an ambulance was told that the footage "violates HIPAA" (not true), and when the camera was eventually returned, all the video was "missing".
The police do not like being filmed and will make up reasons to take your camera; they use the official term "confiscate", but it's really just plain "theft", and your electronics will be damaged and/or missing the footage (if you get it back at all). There are smartphone apps that stream live video "into the cloud" where it's beyond the reach of local law enforcement.
Most recent example: a witness who filmed an incident which happened to include an ambulance was told that the footage "violates HIPAA" (not true), and when the camera was eventually returned, all the video was "missing".