Is it Legal or Illegal to Record the Police?

It is legal to record both your interactions with the police and other interactions that are happening in public. Now, you don’t have the right to take your camera and go into the police station and record what they are doing, but out in public, you have a First Amendment right to record what the police are doing. You can record every bit of your interaction with the police. The police are supposed to get in trouble if they prevent you from recording them.

An Experienced Attorney is the Best Weapon to Have When Fighting the Police

The action of recording police encounters, comes back around to fighting the police in the street. Since the police are the trained legal authority with the guns, you’re probably going to get hurt if you try to have a fight with them on the street. The appropriate place to fight the police is in the courtroom.

Fighting trained people with the guns is just not a good idea. Nothing that’s going to happen to you during a police encounter that is worth taking a beating or potentially risking your life over. So absolutely wait. Fight it out in court later.

Fighting the police in the streets will put you in bad light when you end up in court and the police are telling their story. Even when you’re in the right, the law does not allow citizens the legal authority to make objections. So not only are you never going to win a fight with the police on the street, but it will cast you in a negative light when you do end up in court.

For more on your rights, listen to our podcast, Tales from the Brown Desk.