Motorcyclist wins taping case against Maryland State Police: "A police officer on a traffic stop has no expectation of privacy."

If anyone can chime in on this that would be great. I really don't understand why this was even an issue. Why is it expected that an officer can record us but we cannot record them? Regardless though I'm surprised that the motorcyclist won.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news...ping_case.html

 

Good to see some actual justice. And why was it an issue? Because that's how MD State Police roll.

 

While the charges for the recording were ridiculous, and I applaud the judge for throwing that out. The rider was probably acting like an asshat and thats why he still faces charges for speeding and other traffic violations.

 

No doubt the motorcyclist was probably driving irresponsibly. I ride a sport bike myself and hate riders that make law abiding riders look bad but my issue is why can we not record a traffic stop which occurs in a public area? I've read similar stories in other states where people have gotten in lots of trouble for filming a police officer.

 

Well, here's the short version. When it comes to wiretapping, there are two kinds of states: single party consent and two party consent. In two party consent states, to record certain types of conversations (like phone calls), all parties to the conversation have to know about the recording. In one party consent states, only one party has to know that the conversation is being recorded.

Now, here's where the fun part comes in. MD (and some other states) have tried to say that a police officer has a reasonable expectation when having a conversation with someone who wants no part of the conversation and is in a public place. This reasoning puts it in the category of conversations that need two party consent in the two party consent states. The flipside of the coin was you, the person detained, has no reasonable expectation to privacy in that same situation because we are all aware that police officers record stuff. Give it a second to sink in...yep, they really thought that would work. (btw, this might not be exactly how MD was doing it, but it's close, and it's how these states were generally doing this)

 

Why are people scarred of police?

 

Because they cannot seem to be normal human beings and follow simple laws

 

You're not afraid of someone who cannot be held accountable under the same laws that you are? Or someone who's duty is to uphold those laws, but feels the need to create charges against you for their own power-hungry agenda?

 

What is their power hungry agenda? Keeping people from killing others?

 

There are good cops and bad. For better or worse, cops are people.

The thing is, you need all the rights you can get to save yourself from the bad ones.