Recording police activities not protected under the First Amendment? Civil rights group to challenge unusual court ruling

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday it would appeal a controversial federal court ruling that recording police officers on duty are not covered by the First Amendment unless the recorders intend to relay a message.

The ruling, rendered by District Court Judge Mark Kearney of Eastern District of Pennsylvania, goes off the rails of a consensus among other district courts in the country that recording police activity in public is constitutionally protected regardless of the intent.

CBS noted that courts in Boston, Chicago and Atlanta voted for the legality of police recordings under the First Amendment.

Judge Kearney, however, is firm that silently recording the police does not warrant a protection under the First Amendment clause.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania contends that using smartphones and cameras to record police activities such as arrests and crowd control has become an effective way to make sure that police officers are held accountable for their actions.

According to ACLU Pennsylvania's deputy legal director Mary Catherine Roper, measures to criticize and hold accountable public officers is within the purview of the First Amendment, Reuters reported. She added that prohibiting such recordings will significantly reduce the public's ability to monitor the police and promote transparency where it is lacking.

The decision stems from two lawsuits filed in 2014 by legal observer Amanda Geraci and college student Richard Fields. In both complaints, Gerarci and Fields claimed that they were restrained for documenting police activities in public.

"While we instinctively understand the citizens' argument, particularly with rapidly developing instant image sharing technology, we find no basis to craft a new First Amendment right based solely on 'observing and recording' without expressive conduct," Kearney wrote in his 21-page decision, as quoted by Philly.

Aside from contradicting the jurisprudence established in other courts, Kearney's ruling also goes against the position of former Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who in 2011 issued a memo reminding police officers to expect "to be photographed, videotaped and/or audibly recorded by members of the general public."

The ACLU's appeal will be heard by the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

Tags

First Amendment, recording the police, United States, Pennsylvania Federal Court, American Civil Liberties Union, civil rights, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press

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