November 02, 2016
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. —The Rutherford Institute
has asked a federal appeals court to safeguard the right of citizens and
journalists to record police in public without fear of retaliation. In a
friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit, Rutherford Institute attorneys argue that the First
Amendment protects the right of citizens to make audio or video
recordings of public law enforcement activities.
The brief was filed in a consolidated appeal of two cases in which a
federal district court ruled that police and the City of Philadelphia
could not be sued by persons who were arrested or physically assaulted
by officers allegedly because they had made video recordings of police
engaged in quelling disturbances.
“Police body cameras will never serve as an effective check on police
misconduct as long the cameras can be turned on and off at will and the
footage remains inaccessible to the public. However, technology makes
it possible for Americans to record their own interactions with police
and they have every right to do so without fear of arrest or physical
assault,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of
The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People.
“The ability to record police interactions in public provides for
greater accountability when it comes to police interactions with the
citizenry and should be preserved as a necessary right of the people.”
In September 2012, Amanda Geraci, a legal observer who monitors
police interactions with citizens at protests or demonstrations,
attended a protest against fracking at the convention center in
Philadelphia. When police arrested one of the protesters, Geraci moved
to a spot where she could better observe and make a video recording of
the incident. According to Geraci, a city police officer subsequently
attacked her by physically restraining her against a pillar and
preventing her from videotaping the arrest.
In a separate incident, Temple University student Richard Fields was
walking on Broad Street in Philadelphia when he saw about 20 police
officers standing outside a house that was hosting a party. Fields took a
photograph of the scene with his cell phone. An officer then approached
Fields, asked if Fields “likes taking pictures of grown men,” and
ordered him to leave. When Fields refused, the officer handcuffed and
arrested him, searched his belongings, and charged him with obstructing a
public passage. That charge was eventually dropped. Both Geraci and
Fields filed lawsuits asserting that the police retaliated against them
for exercising their First Amendment right to record police activities
in public.
In ruling on the lawsuits, a federal district court declared that
there was no clearly established right under the First Amendment to
record police activities and that a person only has the right to record
police in public if they can assert there was some “expressive” purpose
for the recording. In weighing in on the cases before the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals, Rutherford Institute attorneys point out that the
district court’s decision conflicts with numerous rulings from other
courts that have affirmed a First Amendment right to collect information
about government activities, and specifically to record police carrying
out their duties in public.
In ruling on the lawsuits, a federal district court declared that
there was no clearly established right under the First Amendment to
record police activities and that a person only has the right to record
police in public if they can assert there was some “expressive” purpose
for the recording. In weighing in on the cases before the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals, Rutherford Institute attorneys point out that the
district court’s decision conflicts with numerous rulings from other
courts that have affirmed a First Amendment right to collect information
about government activities, and specifically to record police carrying
out their duties in public.
Affiliate attorneys Jason P. Gosselin and Christopher F. Moriarty
assisted The Rutherford Institute advancing the arguments in the Fields and Geraci brief.
Via The Rutherford Institute here
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