Man Faces Life In Jail For Recording Police

Originally posted by VitriolAndAngst



>> All the greatest crimes of the 21st century will be completely legal.

If you kill one person its a crime.
Kill millions and its just a statistic.
Stalin

I was threatened with arrest for photographing a body chained to a van
in 1992. I backed up and took the picture from a distance.

I wonder why they don't go after REAL criminals!!!!!!! I guess it would be too much work!!!!

I find it kind of ironic that this man faces jail time for "wiretapping" charges. Yet our own government has been wiretapping US citizens for a very long time. All illegally too.

Are any members of the FBI or CIA facing life in prison for violating our rights? Of course not. They are charging this guy with these BS charges and sentence as a message.

But I hate to break it to them... people are only going to film the police more and more. Because the more these "Peace Officers" decide they are above the law, the more they piss us off.

reply to post by hawkiye


We should all contact the judge, police officer, and any other responsible party associated with this act of terrorism and inform them anonymously about our disgust.

Mannnnnn! This bumms me out! Poor guy, never been in trouble in his life. Facing the rest of his life in jail for something so petty. These cops honestly have nothing better to do. This needs to be thrown out. Ive put this out there for my friends and family to see, I suggest you should too if possible. Expose these corrupt laws and statues!

Call me an idiot, call me narrow minded, but I paint all cops with the same brush! It has become so bad that I do not trust them, any of them, good or bad. If there is a bad cop in a police force that blatently broke the law by killing someone innocent and un-armed shouldn't the good cops arrest him? Shouldn't the court system give him the same penalty as any one of us?
YES!, but it doesn't happen!
A paid vacation, fine, or a couple years in jail seems to be the max these criminal police face!
I think the penalty should actually be worse for public servants that break the laws they are supposed to enforce.

On top of the crime they committed they should be charged for deciving the public, and being a hypocrit!
Hell, if they can call with eavesdropping a crime, the above dont seem that far feched!

Guess this should make it clear to everyone that those twelve states that have and enforce these laws are the most corrupt of all.

This is crazy.

Please any locals to that guy that are on here help him....get a protest going or something. This is just wrong on so many levels.

reply to post by areyouserious2010

It is a case of action-reaction. Is it right? No. Is it fair to subject a person to criminal prosecution and potential jail time for videotaping? Well, let me ask you this. Is it fair to subject a person, who is performing a job that society demands is performed to the best of their ability, to such degradation, slander and general hatred for the service that they provide because of a knee jerk reaction spawned from an out of context irresponsibly taken video?

You took great pains in your post to try and hide it however it is obvious you are trying to justify this BS! The hundreds of videos you claim are cut or out of context is also BS. There are a few but the vast majority of video are raw uncut videos of police abusing and harming citizens! Even if what you said was true charging a man with 5 felony counts totalling 75 years is hardly and appropriate response. yeah we need to get this dangerous criminal off the street...

And lets face it the vast majority of things police do is to harass, extort, imprison, and even kill honest citizens over victimless crimes where they were harming no one. Even the guys who think they are doing the right thing participate in extortion and intimidation everyday of people who are harming no one. I am glad to see the growing videos of police and their well deserved bad reputation, we would do well without them!

Well congratulations,
If you live in America, you officially live in a police state.
Life in prison for recording the cops.
That's rich, that's just rich.
Our founding fathers would be so proud of us now.
Pathetic!
Americans don't deserve their freedoms.
That's why they've been taken away.

reply to post by eXia7


The problem here is that he was not recording “his” encounter. The law he broke, as absurd as this case is, is still a valid law. You are not allowed to record an interaction between people without their knowledge, and consent. Some states require both parties know about, and agree to the recording. Other states only require that one party knows and consents.

Still this seems like an absurd enforcement of this law, but then I do not know the entire story behind it. But this very idea is why when you call your bank or other entities they state “This call may be recorded or monitored.” This is so people can’t then sue them later for recording the conversation without their knowledge or consent. The exceptions to this rule are when licensed investigators are working an investigation. This does not only mean police, but P.I. as well. They in many cases do have to have a warrant for this type of activity as well however.

If someone was being stopped by the police and recorded his interaction with them, then he covers the “one sided” laws. But in some state the law may indeed say both sides of the conversation need to be aware, so even then you would have to alert the officer to the fact you are recording. I think this is getting press only because it was police officers involved. If this man had been recording his neighbor's phone calls, or even just them chatting in the back yard people would be yelling to toss him behind bars. It is only the fact he was recording police officers that incites people to say how unjust this is. I know if he had been recording me and my wife I would be pressing for the maximum penalty, especially if it was somewhere private like in our home or something. Even TV stations have to get permission to use people recorded in their news casts if the camera is not readily apparent. This is why in many situations the people will be blurred as the station did not get permission to air the recording of them, and the camera was not obvious.

reply to post by byeluvolk


That is only in private conditions. In the public you have no sense of privacy, therefore it is NOT eavesdropping. That is why CCTV cameras are not illegal. Or every transaction between every human would have to be agreed upon before filming. That doesn't happen because in public, privacy is not protected.

Does anyone know in what states it is currently illegal to film the police? In the video they say 12 states, but I can't find which 12 they are.

Originally posted by areyouserious2010

This shoddy and irresponsible camera work causes an unfair atmosphere for police officers to perform their job.

Aww poor mr plod. An UNFAIR atmos.

Maybe we should all wear woollen jump suits, so that way when they have to deal with us, they wont hurt their widdle fingers ...

Well, if he gets sentenced, then every US Citizen participated in burying your Country!

I wonder who's going to write the Eulogy and what it will say...

Didn't the court of appeals just rule that arrest for recording police are a violation of the 1st and 4th amendments?
I know I read that recently anyway.

reply to post by byeluvolk

The problem here is that he was not recording “his” encounter. The law he broke, as absurd as this case is, is still a valid law.

NO NO NO!!! No statute that violates rights is valid. This mindset needs to stop here and now! There are several supreme court rulings on this and they basically say that such laws are as if they were never passed!

An officer is not acting in his personal capacity he is acting as an agent of the city county or state. He therefore has no expectation of privacy especially when he is recording the encounter himself or being recorded by other public surveillance or just being in a pubic place.etc etc. He has no reason to not be recorded unless he is there to harm or violate rights period. These same statutes say they have the right to record you without your consent so they have tried to place themselves above the law.

And here these thugs are blatantly trying to put a man away for life who has harmed no one and in fact was protecting the public by his actions. THERE IS NOTHING VALID ABOUT THAT PERIOD! This is public intimidation they are trying to send a message to the public not to scrutinize them so they can continue thier thuggery and not be held accountable!

I knew a guy who was going into law enforcement. He told me about half the cops in my small town were dirty cops who would commonly steal confiscated money and drugs. They would bust a drug dealer and find $10,000, pocket $7,000 and report collecting $3,000. It happens every day, all over the planet. Politicians do things like that, too.

I hope this man has a good lawyer.....he will need one....he should have taken the plea deal....he wouldn't have done time...and he could still fight for justice in this country...just down another avenue. I hope too that he does not do time...but...they way things are now it doesn't look good.

Originally posted by hawkiye

Man Faces Life In Jail For Recording Police

www.infowars.com

41-year old Illinois mechanic Michael Allison faces life in jail for recording police officers after authorities hit him with eavesdropping charges based on the hoax that it is illegal to film cops, a misnomer that has been disproved by every other case against people filming police officers being thrown out of court.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Ive been a cop for 5 years....in Illinois...it is illegal to AUDIO record someone without them knowing... there are certain stipulations either way for and against this stupid law but its there, it does exist...and people get arrested for every now and then. So the quote above is wrong.

reply to post by hawkiye


As messed up as this stupid species is, I don't think he'll get charged with that sentence, or at least I hope not, because it is protected by law that you can, indeed, film cops. Or at least it should be.