75 years for recording police

[slakjaw]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/chicago-district-attorney-recording-bad-cops_n_872921.html

Wow is all I can say. I thought it was legal to record anything you want as long as you're in a public place. Guess not, at least in il

[kach22i]

She needs a better lawyer, this is ridiculous.

[andyt11]

"Recording an on-duty police officer in Illinois is a Class 1 felony, the same class of crimes as rape".

Doesn't really seem reasonable that does it!

[GH85Carrera]

That is a law that need to be changed.

[dhoward]

Won't be changed, have to protect the crooks.

[krystar]

yea IL sux. we're going to be the last one to not have CCW too.

[LakeCleElum]

Laws regarding one party consent vary from state to state....My state (Washington) is a two-party consent state. Why:

In the early '80's, state legislators were scheming with organized crime to authorize gambling for big paybacks....State senators were sent to prison based on recordings with undercover FBI agents........Their buddies made it illegal to do recordings in the future w/o two party consent.....Just a little history of political corruption in our little part of the world.....

You can cry me a river, but that's why the laws are on the books we live with today....

[emcon5]

Some good case law just came out of the First Circuit on this subject.

DailyTech - First Circuit Court of Appeals Rules that Citizens Can Videotape Police

The filming of government officials while on duty is protected by the First Amendment, said the Court

The First Circuit Court of Appeals reached a crucial decision last Friday allowing the public to videotape police officers while they're on the clock.

The decision comes after a string of incidents where individuals have videotaped police officers and were arrested. Police officers across the United States believed citizens didn't have the right to videotape them as they conducted official duties, but issues like police brutality put the issue up for debate.

[jyl]

Sounds like a law (in IL) designed to allow police/district attorney to harass citizens. Note that, per the story, no-one has actually been convicted of recording a police officer - but the threat is surely useful for the police dept. The law should be repealed, or overturned by the courts (although then someone will whine about "activist judges", the ACLU, or complain that the constitution doesn't explicitly say anything about video/tape recording).