Thread: Judge rules police dashcam videos can be kept secret

Dashcam ruling on SPD videos makes no sense

By Ken Schram
KOMOnews.com

I�d like to know how a public servant, on a public street, can end up with a private video.

That very question is at the core of a legal battle between KOMO TV and the Seattle Police Department.

Last Fall, KOMO sued SPD over the issue of public access to dashcam videos and the database that keeps track of them.

Last week, a King County judge handed down a confusing ruling that said Seattle police were wrong in holding back the database from KOMO News, but at the same time the judge noted that the city has the right to keep those videos secret for three years.

The question now gets booted to the State Supreme Court as to whether public disclosure or a thin curtain of privacy will prevail.

I�m amazed that government has no compunction about putting up surveillance cameras on city streets, informing us that we have no expectation of privacy in a public setting, but that video taken on a camera mounted in a police patrol car is a different matter.

Government can't be allowed to take away our privacy when it suits its purpose, only to turn around and say they are "protecting" our privacy when it suits no purpose but that of government.

In short, a public servant on a public street cannot end up with a private video.

Read more here
Schram: Dashcam ruling on SPD videos makes no sense | Ken Schram | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News


That's right, a judge in Seattle has ruled that police dashcam
videos are private videos and the public cannot access them.

Huh? How can a public servant, on a public street, can end up with
a private video?

Fact is, they can't.

Government can't be allowed to take away our privacy when it suits
its purpose, only to turn around and say they are "protecting" our
privacy when it suits no purpose but that of government.

KOMO TV is fighting it all the way to the State Supreme Court...

Video:

Law enforcement corruption & abuse: Judge rules police dashcam videos can be kept secret

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Are we awake yet???

Police Erase Video That May Have Shown Police Brutality

Written by Gary North on April 19, 2012


Here is another story about a police officer who did not want a reporter to use what might have been incriminating evidence against him. So, she took the reporter’s video and erased it. That is the contention of the reporter, who is suing.

What are the legal issues? The first, fourth, and fourteenth amendments, she says.

The reporter was at a night club where underage patrons were supposedly attending. She was filming (we still use the word) the nightclub from the parking lot. She was asked to leave by a club employee and two police officers. One of them demanded the tape, which she initially refused to surrender. She then tried to leave.

The officer took the tape. When it was returned, the scene showing the officer “manhandling” a person was gone.

“We have proof that she deleted the clip,” said [Attorney] Crow. “It’s a pretty egregious case; I think the officer almost committed a crime by tampering with evidence. Because she’s an officer she could get away with it, I think if she was a regular citizen a criminal complaint could’ve been filed.”

The more famous confiscations are the government’s collection of all tapes close to the Pentagon on 9-11. There have never been a release of numerous tapes of the crash into the Pentagon.

This is why it is best for people to have two cameras, meaning a camera and a smart phone, when photographing police. The smart phone should be in communication with a backup by Skype. The backup had better record the images. This way, the police cannot delete evidence.

As this technology spreads, the police will have a tougher time suppressing video evidence against them. This is a good thing. The misuse of the police power can be recorded.

Anything we can do legally to restore our Constitutional liberties is positive. Smart phones are positive.


Continue Reading on abcnews.go.com
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ed-off-camera/

Police Erase Video That May Have Shown Police Brutality

An Unarmed California Man Threatens to Kill Himself — Police Allegedly Arrive And Hit Him With A Stun Gun and Then Shoot Him To Death
Published 1, April 18, 2012 Bizarre , Criminal law , Society 36 Comments

Police in Keyes, California are investigating why police officers killed an unarmed 32-year-man after first shooting him with a stun gun. Family members called police to tell them that George Ramirez was suffering from depression and threatening suicide. The Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy is now on administrative leave. According to reports, Deputy Art Parra Jr. has been on the force for six years.


Ramirez reportedly had a history of depression and the family said that they wanted to get him help. When police arrived, Ramirez reported demanded to know “Who sent you to arrest me? Where’s your credentials?” The single officer reportedly used the stun gun soon after arriving at the scene and family members said that the shot caused Ramirez to fall to the floor. They insisted that he had not threatened the deputy. When Ramirez got back on his feet, the family says the deputy proceeded to shoot him three times in the torso. The father says that after the officer killed his son, three other officers arrived and started pointing guns at him and the family.

We have not heard the officer’s account, who was reportedly not injured.

The absence of a gun does not necessarily rule out a justified use of lethal force. The facts as stated by the family however are quite disturbing and the absence of a weapon raises serious questions of excessive use of force by the officer. I am also not sure of why the officer did not just the stun gun again rather than lethal force.

Source: KCRA as first seen on Reddit


An Unarmed California Man Threatens to Kill Himself — Police Allegedly Arrive And Hit Him With A Stun Gun and Then Shoot Him To Death « JONATHAN TURLEY