At least not in Illinois.
I live in St. Louis about 10 minutes away from the Illinois state line, and actually had the "opportunity" to work over the border for a year. While being there, I heard countless stories of the anal police officers in Illinois, and actually had an opportunity to get pulled over by who seemed to be the angry gremlin leader of them all.
So yeah. I have a bit of a bias going into this; it's probably the reason I'm blogging about this in the first place.
Anyways, APPARENTLY, any audio or video recording of a police officer in the state of Illinois qualifies one for a felony charge and up to fifteen years in prison. For recording a cop.
Now, I respect authority, and I obey authority, and I don't even like to be the one making this snarky blog that could possibly be disrespecting police officers (if you want to call the ones in Illinois that), but this just sounds fishy. If I were a keeper of the law, I would expect to behave with conduct that would show people how awesome I was if I happened to be recorded by someone that I pulled over.
Either way, I just find this funny that this is happening in Illinois, of all places.
One last note, the recording of a police officer about five minutes away from my house (in Missouri, thankfully) helped the public become aware of this and helped shut down an entire corrupt municipal. I am grateful for that, and feel like it should be our right to keep those protecting us in check. That is all.
Check it out here. Later
Wow... That is crazy! o.O I hope the cops around here are professional, I wouldn't want to get pulled over by a drunk person with a uniform and a gun. :(
ReplyDeleteLauren in our class also posted about this and I was just shocked about how unfair it is.
ReplyDeleteThat seems extremely fishy to me. It just makes it sound like they are hiding things.
ReplyDeleteThis sentence made me laugh: "If I were a keeper of the law, I would expect to behave with conduct that would show people how awesome I was if I happened to be recorded by someone that I pulled over." I agree! haha.
Other employees (cashiers, restaurant and fast food employees, etc.) are often recorded when they are on the job. What makes police officers so righteous that they can't be recorded?
I had heard about that video you linked before. I think they talked about it on 96.5 the Buzz. I remember thinking after that that I should always be ready to record, just in case I get abused or mistreated. That was actually the first thing that popped into my head when I started reading this, so it was kind of funny that you linked to it. I wonder how many times that sort of thing has happened when no one was recording, and especially now that in Illinois you can't record.