In California, Public Recording of Conversations is Legal If There Was No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy By Michael P. Ehline, Esq. – First, let me start off by saying that I love the police and that many of my Marine Corps. brothers are now Deputy Sheriffs, or CHP. I am pretty sure at least one Redondo Beach K-9 cop is also an inactive Marine. So the bad things I am about to say about bad cops, is about BAD Cops, not the good ones. In the Corps, we called them “sh+*birds”. Now that is out of the way, let’s delve into the law. First, we will discuss the recording of non police, so we can get a baseline and basic understanding of California privacy laws and then we will go into the police. So, in California, if you record a private person, and they don’t know, even if in a public, or even a semi-public place such as a out on the sidewalk, bike path, or eating establishment, the individual you are taping, may not have “an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation.” This is determined on a case by case basis, based upon the reasonableness of the circumstances. This means you cannot simply assume that you are not breaking the law, when you make a recording of a person, under such circumstances. In California Can I Record The Police With Video? The internet, especially Youtube, has shown both the good, and the bad side of police, especially the TSA goons at the airports. Many agencies, although having received multiple citizen complaints against certain rogue officers, simply chose to act as though there was not a problem with their personnel ignoring their sacred oath(s). These are other ones that do not make it to the internet, because no one is there to exercise their First Amendment Rights, or the recorder gets stomped, or confiscated and erased. When All Else Fails Penal Code Sec. 148 PC Sec. 148 is the favored section bad cops use to charge people who the police had just violated, such as civil rights violations and excessive use of force. It is a common practice by bad cops to charge someone they just beat, or violated, with a crime, so they can get leverage in a future civil case if they are sued, and to give the police union some firepower when they are trying not to get terminated for being a bad cop. If an arrested criminal defendant pleas out to the false charge (no contest, not guilty, etc) out of fear, or for lack of money to pay a lawyer, or are “strong armed” by the public defender, etc, the officer can later argue reasonable force or methods were used, and that it is res judicata, etc. in any future civil rights lawsuit. This is the favored method they historically have used, and it is very effective at restricting the unalienable rights of the sovereign (you). Filming our Public Servants Helps Keep them Honest The good news is law enforcement officials are protecting citizens Constitutional rights. One example of this occurred during Thanksgiving weekend at an airport in Albany. A grassroots movement was there informing travelers about the dangers of TSA bodyscanners and filmed the encroaching pat-downs at the Albany International Airport. One airport official demanded the activists stop filming, show their identification and be arrested for breaking the law. Local law enforcement were called to the scene, where the sheriff told the airport official that the activists were not breaking the law, and he could not arrest them or order them to show their identification. This is no surprise, since the Sheriffs almost universally understand that many federal enforcement officials trample on individual rights as a matter of course. The sad part about this is not all members of law enforcement will behave in this manner as did the Shire of the Reef above. In most cases, threats of arrest and intimidation by law enforcement is usually enough to make the activist or individual stop filming. The one thing to remember, it is legal to film the police. California Recording Law you can record anyone in publicfreedom of the press

• published: 26 Mar 2015
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