Thursday, December 18, 2008

"Police Officers Become Accidental YouTube Stars".

The article notes that videotaping police is entirely legal, as long as it doesn't interefere with the performance of their duties. Unfortunately some NYPD officers hold the following mistaken view:
An officer directing traffic in Brooklyn asserted that it is illegal to tape police officers. "If I know that he's taking video, I'm going to walk up to him and stop him," the officer said.
Or in another encounter:
...[A] man asks an officer if he may film him, and the officer replies, "You going to post them on the Internet? Then I'm going to have to break your camera over your face." But he and other officers laugh, as does the cameraman, who eventually walks away. The video had 19,370 views as of Tuesday evening.
(Via Instapundit.)