It looks like more and more courts are not going along with police departments that try to stop citizens from recording police officers in public. Just the other day, the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that not only is recording the police an activity that is protected under the First Amendment, but that the officers who wrongfully arrested a Massachusetts man for doing so can be sued.
However, it looks like the state of Illinois didn’t get the message. As reported by NBC Wabash affiliate, the state attorney general is trying to send a man to prison for doing exactly the same thing. In this case, if the facts are as reported, the violation is so blatant that both the attorney general and the arresting officer(s) really ought to face arrest and prison themselves. However, I will be quite happy if the First Circuit Court precedent results in them being sued for everything they’ve got. This “we watch you, you don’t watch us” crap needs to stop NOW.
