Current Events > Federal judge rules Mass. law prohibiting secret audio recording of police...

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https://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2018/12/federal_judge_rules_mass_law_p.html

A federal court judge Monday ruled a Massachusetts General Law prohibiting the secret audio recording of police or government officials is unconstitutional.

Chief United States District Judge Patti B. Saris made the ruling on two similar cases -- one involving two Jamaica Plain residents who frequently record police officers and a second case involving Project Veritas, the undercover organization founded by conservative political activist James O'Keefe.

Both cases involved defendants who had not secretly recorded police but claimed that the Suffolk District Attorney's office and the Boston Police Department were interpreting state law in such a way that was preventing them from doing so without the risk of legal repercussions.

Project Veritas argued it was being prevented from conducting the secret video recordings that are the bread and butter of its video reports here in Massachusetts due to the state's interpretation of the law, which would make such recordings illegal.

The defendants in the cases are Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross.

In the 44-page decision Saris declared that "secret audio recording of government officials, including law enforcement officials, performing their duties in public is protected by the First Amendment, subject only to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions."

Saris said the cases did not focus on defining what "public space" or "government official" were and the court would "leave it to subsequent cases to define these terms on a better record."

K. Eric Martin and Rene Perez are the two Jamaica Plain defendants in one of the cases. A lawsuit was filed on their behalf by the ACLU of Massachusetts.

According to court records, Martin has openly recorded police officers performing their duties in public at least 26 times and Perez has done the same thing 18 times since 2011. The recordings are often live streamed. The recordings consist of one-on-one interactions with police, traffic and pedestrian stops and protests.

According to the court records, neither had conducted secret recordings of police and "both have stated that their desire to record secretly stems from a fear that doing so openly will endanger their safety and provoke hostility from officers."

The court ruled those concerns were not without merit.

According to the court, the Suffolk DA's office has opened at least 11 cases involving a felony charge under Mass. General Laws Section 99, including cases where the person being recorded was a police officer. Similarly, the Boston Police Department has applied for criminal complaints against at least nine individuals for secretly recording police performing their duties in public.

In fact, the court said, Boston Police training videos depict two scenarios of citizens recording police -- one openly and one in secret -- instructing officers that the latter is illegal. The video is mandatory viewing for current officers.

Dawkins was right?????

Dawkins was right?????

Dawkins was right?????

Lol, the fucking cops are scum. "wah don't record us, we don't want you to catch us doing illegal shit"

Lol, the fucking cops are scum. "wah don't record us, we don't want you to catch us doing illegal shit"

They consider public cell phone videos secret?

Fucking gestapo pigs

but wait? what state is Dawkins in?