State of the Police State: We Have A Natural Right To Watch and Record Cops

Mac Slavo
June 12th, 2011
SHTFplan.com
39 Comments
Video: Judge Napolitano

Printer Friendly Version of this Page SHTF Plan RSS Feed - Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Planning Signup for Our Regular News Updates Mac Slavo's SHTF Plan Youtune Channel

Constitutional scholar Judge Andrew Napolitano tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time – should an individual be able to watch and record law enforcement policing actions on public property, as well as on his or her own property?

Cameras now appear on just about every major intersection in the country, at sporting events, malls, train stations and airports, and just about any other public place a person would visit. Local, state and Federal governments have unprecedented access to peek into the lives of every single American. It makes one wonder, then, why a Constitutionally protected American is regularly coming under fire from police and prosecutors for doing the exact same thing the government says is necessary to protect our safety and our freedom. All of these cameras are purported to be here to keep us safe.

We argue that the very same holds true for the citizenry’s ability to self-protect against harm or harmful intent from individuals public and private.

There are over 300 million cell phone subscriptions in the United States, and a majority of those mobile devices have digital cameras built in. The power is in our hands, and its obvious by the protests coming from the government sector that this is the single most important weapon and tool that the public has to ensure individual and domestic tranquility through prevention of criminal activity, be it initiated by a private individual or someone who is performing their duties under the banner of of the law.

If a reporter were to write a story about a particular incident describing how law enforcement brutally beat a suspect and ran it on the front page of a major newspaper, there may be protests from government officials, but there would more than likely be no criminal prosecution. A written record, it seems, is a perfectly acceptable medium. If the same incident is recorded via a digital device like a camera or microphone, especially by an average person on the street and published on Youtube, many states and localalities would be prepared to prosecute. In fact, many already have, and there are numerous accounts of individuals facing excessive jail time for just this “crimeâ€