Arrested by the Philadelphia Police for Open Carry

[ViperGTS19801]

WHERE IS THE CASELAW about taping the police being legal? I need to send an email to T.C. - I still have her email address and I want to know why they don't screen the idiots out of their caller line! I need that caselaw to back myself up.

NEVER MIND, I got it

Commonwealth v. Henlen, 564 A.2d 905 (Pa. 1989), where Henlen, a prison guard at a county jail, was suspected of stealing the personal property of an inmate. During an interrogation by state police at Henlen’s work site, Henlen secretly recorded the conversation with the intent of using it as evidence in a
harassment claim he would later file against the police. Henlen’s argument was similar to that of the Commonwealth in Myers: the conversation was not an “oral communication” protected under the Wiretap Act since the trooper had no reasonable expectation of privacy while he was acting in his official capacity during the interrogation of a suspect.

The email I sent to the Smerconish show:

Do you guys check the credentials of your callers before letting them spout lies?

"Surruptitiously recording" a police officer is NOT illegal, when they are acting in their public duties. Case law from Commonwealth v. Henlen (564 A.2d 905 (Pa. 1989)) clearly establishes that the police have no expectation of privacy and therefore recording them while they are acting in their official capacities is entirely legal. If recording the police in this state is illegal, then every police department that uses a DashCam in their car to record any interaction with anyone they pull over without first telling them that they're recording is also a felon. That's a LOT of criminals wearing badges!

You know, I never have a problem with someone disagreeing with my opinion. Everyone has one, and everyone has their right to it. But when you go on the air and let people spout misinformation as if it were fact, then rally behind him and tell your listeners that someone who is trying to protect themselves and exercise their rights is a felon and should be locked up, you're just as much a part of the problem as the ignorant officers involved in incidents like these who are ignorant of the laws they are trying to enforce.

ETA: Right after I fired off that email, one of my attorneys sent an email to the Smerconish show as well, citing even more caselaw and correcting them.

[mrjam2jab]

In Smerconish's defense...he has stated several times he doesn't know the legalities of the situation....he is relying on the callers to school him...

[chivvalry]

In Smerconish's defense...he has stated several times he doesn't know the legalities of the situation....he is relying on the callers to school him...

Then he is a fool. Getting legal advice from a mob isn't the right way to do things. He is simply a sensationalist radio hack trying to rile people up and get better ratings.

[son of the revolution]

WHERE IS THE CASELAW about taping the police being legal? I need to send an email to T.C. - I still have her email address and I want to know why they don't screen the idiots out of their caller line! I need that caselaw to back myself up.

NEVER MIND, I got it

I just sent an email to him via his website, we'll see if they do anything with it

[kimbershooter]

Viper,

Quick question, on the recording it sounds like some one was tossing the recorder around. Were the police trying to break the recorder or trying to turn it off?

[son of the revolution]

WHERE IS THE CASELAW about taping the police being legal? I need to send an email to T.C. - I still have her email address and I want to know why they don't screen the idiots out of their caller line! I need that caselaw to back myself up.

NEVER MIND, I got it



The email I sent to the Smerconish show:



ETA: Right after I fired off that email, one of my attorneys sent an email to the Smerconish show as well, citing even more caselaw and correcting them.

Here's another one for ya Mark, I posted it in this thread a few pages back yesterday and had to go looking for it.

specific exemption to the Wiretapping Act 57 PA. C.S. 5703(1)for recording police officers performing their official duties that was granted by the PA Supreme Court. The reasoning being that police officers have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the oral communications.

Agnew v Dupler 717 A.2d 519, 523 (PA 1998)

[BenGlock]

The cases are Kelly v. Borough of Carslile, 622 F.3d 248 (3d. Cir. 2010) (U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals holding that a reasonable expectation of privacy is necessary for there to be a wiretap violation and covertly recording police officers is not a violation of the Wiretap Act), Agnew v. Dupler, 553 Pa. 33, 717 A.2d 519 (1998) (PA Supreme Court holding that police do not have reasonable expectation of privacy where police chief used intercom to listen in on their conversation in the squadroom), Com. v. Henlen, 522 Pa. 514, 564 A.2d 905 (1989) (Pa Supreme Court held that suspect who covertly recorded state trooper's interrogation of him did not violate Wiretap Act because trooper didn't have reasonable expectaton of privacy). Also, the ACLU recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the County of Allegheny and others for filing wiretap charges against their client for taping police. The case is Matheny v. County of Allegheny et al. and it later settled. Here is an excerpt from the press release relating to that lawsuit:

It is unacceptable for police officers and other public officials to silence and punish citizens who are peaceably documenting police officers' public duties," said Glen Downey, from the law firm Healey & Hornack, P.C., who is handling the case as an ACLU cooperating attorney.

Unfortunately, many Pennsylvania law enforcement officers don't understand that the courts have said the state wiretapping law cannot be applied to punish people for recording police actions in public," continued Downey.

The lawsuit alleges University of Pittsburgh police violated Matheny's First and Fourth Amendment rights by retaliating against him for legitimately gathering information about police activities and confiscating his cell phone. It further charges that the district attorney's office has engaged in a pattern of erroneously advising law enforcement that audio taping police officers in public violates Pennsylvania's Wiretap Act.

[kadar]

Robinson v Fetterman is another good read at Supreme Court level.
It involves videotaping and retaliation.

http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documen...s/05D0847P.pdf

[GregorOneEye]

Viper are you famous enough for me to stalk yet?

*waiting with my binoculars, cut out magazine letters and white glue*

[ViperGTS19801]

Viper are you famous enough for me to stalk yet?

*waiting with my binoculars, cut out magazine letters and white glue*

You're aware I carry a gun, right?

I open carry, in case you're not. You can see it with your binoculars.