After the recent controversies involving deadly police incidents in Missouri, New York and elsewhere, state and local governments are re-examining laws governing citizens’ rights to record on-duty police officers in public spaces. Citizen photography and videography give us accountability over law enforcement activity – the technology to do so rests right in our palms – but some police advocates claim that snapping away or filming is a threat to public safety and an invasion of privacy.
The confusion and controversy surrounding this issue highlight the need for a clear understanding of the constitutional rights for citizens, public servants and legislators. The law is clear: citizens have the right to record the police. It is guaranteed under the First Amendment. Every court that has ruled on the issue has upheld the right of citizens to film police.
Still, police and prosecutors sometimes seem unclear on what the law states. Just last year a Massachusetts woman was charged with recording her own arrest – though the case was eventually dropped – and in Ferguson, Mo., reporters from The Washington Post and Huffington Post were arrested for filming the police, though later released without any charges. Amid the passionate conversations about police accountability, we must remain vigilant in defending this right to freedom of expression and of the press. This is for the good of both police and the public they serve.
It might aid our law enforcement and other public servants if they saw the statistics about citizens filming police. Cameras have been proven to lower conflicts between police and the public – so much so that some departments are skipping the middleman and using body-mounted cameras to record officers on the job. In Rialto, Calif., the use of force by officers declined 60 percent in the first year after its entire police force began wearing cameras. Citizen complaints against police plummeted by 88 percent, suggesting that body cameras also protect police from fraudulent claims.
Those numbers might explain the national trend of more police departments having their officers wear cameras. The Los Angeles Police Department, for one, has announced plans to use 700 new body cameras. As L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti explained, “The more facts and evidence that we have, the more likely it is that we can get to the truth, no matter what happens on the street.” Garcetti expects all LAPD patrol officers to be equipped with body cameras by June of next year.
Cameras have the potential to change the criminal justice culture, making it more open and transparent. Thanks to the rapid pace of innovation, law enforcement body cameras that used to cost more than $1,000 now retail for $300 to $400. As recording, storage and streaming capabilities evolve, police body cameras could one day be the norm not the exception.
This is a straightforward case. The courts have made it clear that Americans have a constitutional right to record their public servants. More police departments are seeing the value in having their interactions with the public recorded. The technology is available and affordable, and the companies who make it are seeing a financial benefit. If we proceed accordingly, everyone involved will be better served and protected.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro.