Quote:
Originally Posted by DiverRich
@ Steve - the only thing it's worth in Oregon is a year in jail an a $6250 fine. it hardly seems worth a criminal conviction to get a cop a write up. All a person has to do is advise the other party they are being recorded. I have worked patrol for 15 years and use a dashcam on every stop. People always turn nice when you tell them the camera is on. Again I'd check with state law tho.
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I don't bash cops, and have the highest respect for them. That being said, there are a few bad apples out there...and as a citizen, it's hard to protect yourself against those that do abuse their power.
Laws are different in each state, but lets say the laws were similar here in Washington State as they are in Oregon. And I'm going to be hypothetical here as well. I've never had this kind of issue with a cop as I've always been polite and forthcoming with the police so I wouldn't expect to be in this situation. But if I was...
Let's say a cops girlfriend broke up with him because she found me irresistable because I was a fireman. He found out about this and started pulling me over on an almost daily basis, but only issued verbal warnings so that they wouldn't appear on the public record.
In this case, yes I would make the recording, even though it's "illegal". I would still pursue getting the officer disciplined per legal channels, but if things turned ugly (Officer suing me for defamation, my pets starting to mysteriously die)...then I would go to the superiors and say that I had recordings of these actions.
Without the recording, how else could I protect myself. You can argue that technically it is illegal, but personally I think with the widespread use of phone recorders in so many other incidents, that there is precedent for these being used to record illegal actions by police officers in many other states. The officers that beat Rodney King didn't give permission to be recorded, and there are many incidences of actions taking place and being recorded by security cameras as well.
I'd take my chances on recording the illegal actions of a police officer if this was happening...