All interactions with the police should be recorded.

The public should have this protection from abuse. I'm pro police. In the court of law the judge will trust the police not the citizen. Recordings give the citizen a fair voice in the fight for his/her judgment.

I carried a recorder as a Civil Investigator and a sports official. Saved my ass on a number of occasions.

Personal audio/video on the officer would be cheap, easy to carry and would protect BOTH parties. Dash cams are not the way to go in this day and age.

BTW, it's considered a bit rude to quote to quote out of context.....:cool:

Of course not. Still a big-time cop fail, but it's just harder for me to feel sorry for the guy, knowing he strapped on his gun and got his little recorder ready and went to where he knew the all the dumb cops were. He should have made a "Cops suck" sign or something, too. It's not illegal to make a "cops suck" sign, you know.

Maybe I could make a "Cops Suck" sign and go down to my local district cop shop and just stand around singing songs about how cops suck. And, when they kick my ass, make sure someone videotapes it.

Would everyone applaud me for 'standing up against police brutality?" No. They would call me a dumbass.

When aggressive gun-owners pull stunts, it's not "standing up for their rights." It's pulling a dumb stunt; and it does more damage than good for the cause, however noble.

IMO. SmileWavy

So.....if internal affairs staged a sting on officers THAT would be outta line? Setting up concealed cameras at the local bar and grill photographing officers taking free meals and drinks is outta line? A blonde driver tired of getting pulled over and ogled, asked for phone number, sexual favors and records the officer is outta line?

The PD HAS to live up to a higher standard. The fact that their training didn't include open carry/concealed carry regs isn't the street cops fault, it's management's fault.

I agree, the licensed gun owner was stupid. Was it criminal, IMHO, no......The PD was negligent and got caught. The prosecution subsequent to his release is retaliatory.

Exactly what situation did he create by doing nothing illegal?

If anything he did a public service.

As the PD acknowledged, their officers were ignorant of open carry laws.

Now they are not.

Let's not mince any words here. Tell how you feel! ( +1 BTW)

OK, first, in your scenario, cops wouldn't kick your butt. they'd look up a few ordinances and fine you to oblivion. or politely ask you to leave.

I see a continuous slide of our basic rights and no one standing up saying, hey, we want our rights. This guy did, but did it in piss-poor way. But he did call attention to it, dialogs have been started, here in fact. I think a lot of good can come of that.

or we have the alternative, from the tape:

"Get down on your knees. Just obey what I'm saying," Dougherty said.

I don't get the "set up," or what he did to "create" the situation. From the article, all he was doing was walking down the street with his legally carried firearm.

On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip.

Can someone explain what he did to wrongfully "create" the situation or set up the officers?

Sure is a shame Snipe is not here to weigh in on this...:rolleyes:

I didn't say he set up the officers. I didn't say the officers got taken advantage of. I'm saying this guy was ready for it, looking for it, and even excited that it happened. That turns me off, no matter what his message. It looks like we all pretty much agree about the "Gun rights vs. Crappy cops" part of the story.

SmileWavy

Slight tangent per the recent SC ruling. So all LEO's have to say now is "we thought drugs were being destroyed"? How many times has some one knocked on your door while you were sitting on the john?

I never thought I'd see the day that exercising your rights would make you 'an idiot'.

In CA, whilst openly carrying it is HIGHLY advised to have a recorder on you as well. It is a known fact that the police here are indoctrinated to support the idea that only they are allowed to have guns for protection. FYI, not cop-bashing, it's true. There are a few cities here where we have gotten them to acknowledge the law-abiding practice of open carry, but there are a few places (like LA, San Fran, some parts of Sandy Eggo) that feel it best to harass the law abiding.

For those who believe the practice of open carry is stupid... You probably think a gub'mit permission slip to conceal-carry is best. Let's start a permission slip application process for Amendments 1, 3, 4, 5 and so-on...

after last years run-in with a police officer on my motorcycle, i always carry my digital camera on rides. it has this nice record function for audio that can run for hours. its a single party consent state, here in utah.

This is ridiculous and a tremendous waste of tax payer money / time spent now on this. This is Philly, there are somethings you just don't do. This was purely a stunt and it's on Youtube, yippie, congrats on that. The way the cops used their profanity is how they simply talk here. I think they did a fine job. They asked where he was from, because if he was from Philly, he wouldn't have done that.

So, hasseling someone who isn't breaking the law is "a fine job" ? :rolleyes:

In my opinion, he wasn't being 'hassled' at all. Cops are tough in Philly, they have to be that way, and I'm glad they're that way too. Lots of crazy people. Just go about it with common sense, why analyze this any further?

Soo, you're saying the cops in Philly make up their own laws, that the laws on the books are not the ones that are upheld?

Not sure which is more troubling, that cops can do as they please or that you accept it.

The mayor of Philly, responsible for bringing tourism dollars in, may want to analyze this further.

Anyone from anywhere else in the US visiting Philly may want to as well.

I think that if you are open carrying in a metropolitan area you are asking for trouble. How many people legally open carry in Philly? Three or four? If a cop sees someone carrying a pistol on a downtown sidewalk, the cop better investigate. The person carrying better cooperate, not argue. I would like to hear the audio where the person carrying cooperates with all commands, establishes that he is not a threat to the cop, the cop finally asks for his permit and then sends him on his way with a "sorry about the inconvenience, but open carry is so unusual around here that I had to investigate." Instead I hear a couple jerks yelling at each other.

investigate? is that what you are calling the actions of these officers? okay. i can't wait for this to be de rigeur of investigative practices in our cities.