Blaze1up Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Power to the people. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of rapper Dr. Dre in a case involving a very important legal principle — whether the police have a right to privacy while performing their duties. The state high court said no. The suit was filed by Gary Brown, now a Detroit City Councilman but formerly a high-ranking police official. He and other officers were videotaped while threatening to shut down a concert featuring Dre and Eminem if they showed a sexually explicit video. The video was then included in a DVD produced about the tour. The court, in a 6-1 ruling, dismissed the suit, saying that there is no right to privacy for police while on the job. The implications of this ruling are far more important than they may seem initially because it explicitly makes it legal in the state of Michigan to record the police while they perform their duties. This is incredibly important because cell phone videos of police officers have revealed misconduct, abuse and lying on reports in case after case around the country. But in some states, like Illinois, it is illegal to videotape the police in the performance of their duties. Michigan now has a clearly established legal right for what has become a crucial watchdog on police misconduct Link to comment
carlfense Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Wonderful! I'd like to see a statute in each state that expressly states that the public can videotape on duty officers at any time, for any reason. What are the arguments against this? 1 Link to comment
knapplc Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I agree, it's something the public should be able to do without question. It's a troubling sign that the police would want that kind of privacy. Yes, they have a tremendously difficult job, but if they're doing it correctly, what's the harm in taking video of them? 1 Link to comment
CornHOLIO Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Great! Now can someone please ban rap? Link to comment
Blaze1up Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 Nothing to see here, move along. Link to comment
Malth Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 You could argue that these videos are undermining their credibility as a whole. The only videos you see feature cops allegedly engaging in misconduct, some of which depict events out of context that seem worse then they really are. I would likely not support a law making it illegal to film them. Link to comment
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