Joe Wright
Activist Post
Police departments around the country continue to intimidate citizen journalists into thinking that they have no right to film officials during the course of their duties serving the public. There has been a disturbing trend of arresting people even while filming from their own property; threatening them with 15-20 years, or even life in prison if there are multiple counts.
Massachusetts has been at the forefront of an attempt to redefine illegal wiretapping laws to say that if you secretly record police, then it is a crime every bit as equal to recording your neighbor with a hidden camera or audio device.
One of the men targeted under this interpretation was lawyer, Simon Glik, who was arrested on Tremont Street, Boston in October, 2007 for filming an altercation between three police officers and a teenager. The officers were attempting to extract a plastic bag from the youth's mouth. Glik thought he was witnessing a case of police brutality, so he began filming with his cellphone. He was arrested within minutes . . . for " illegal electronic surveillance. (Source)
Glik is just one of many who have fallen prey to Massachussets' loose interpretation of wiretapping laws.
John Surmacz filmed police roughly breaking up a holiday party he was attending in Brighton and was arrested and charged with illegal surveillance. (Source).
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