Comments

RalphM wrote on 6/13/2007, 2:09 PM
The usual order of events such as this is:

People in high stress jobs overreact and misuse their power
Tempers cool
Light Falls on the facts
Rationality returns

Personally, if I were the chief of police, I'd have the civilians and the officers involved sit down over a few beers and discuss what happened.

Police are people in high visibility, high stress jobs, trying to walk a line between enforcing the law and being accused of discriminatory behavior. I try to consider that when I feel I've been "victimized". I know that the same cop who tickets me (and I think unfairly) can be called to put his life on the line to protect me the next day. Most of them will.

That's why I cut them some slack when they behave rudely....
john-beale wrote on 6/13/2007, 2:39 PM
It's not clear to me that an audio recording in a public place, or generally a place with no reasonable expectation of privacy, should be legally equivalent to a telephone wiretap. I don't know if they are now legally equivalent, and perhaps it varies by jurisdiction or by judge but it doesn't seem to me they "should" be equivalent.

I guess generally, if I can legally witness it, it seems reasonable that I should be able to legally record it. (..of course, in some cases copyrights interfere with that)