HuffPo: Yes, It’s Legal To Film The Cops — And What’s Been Filmed In Recent Months Is Appalling

HuffPo: Yes, It’s Legal To Film The Cops — And What’s Been Filmed In Recent Months Is Appalling by Christopher Mathias:

NEW YORK — It’s becoming clearer and clearer that smartphones have ushered in a new era of police accountability. Since mid-July, when a bystander on Staten Island filmed the death of Eric Garner in a prohibited police chokehold, at least eight other unsettling videos, most of them captured by smartphone, have emerged showing instances of apparent excessive force by NYPD officers. Four such videos have appeared this month alone.

Although police might intimidate bystanders into thinking otherwise, it’s perfectly legal to film the cops — not only in New York, but everywhere in the U.S. — as long as you don’t get in their way. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, encourages people to keep using their phones to film troubling police incidents. The more people who post these videos online, she said, the more likely it is that other people will reach for their own phones when they see cops doing something questionable.