Why Police Must Be Recorded

Many states currently have laws against recording police officers while they’re on duty. The only reason I can see for the existence of these laws is to allow the police to get away with crimes they commit while on duty. What kind of crimes? How about threatening to murder a person because he was lawfully carrying a firearm. The following is a dashcam video of this very scenario:

The first thing that really caught my attention (besides the officer being a complete fucking asshole) was the fact the officer took the driver’s permit, put the drive in the car, then pretended he couldn’t find the driver’s carry permit. Normally I would write this off as an honest mistake (the officer pocketing the permit absent mindedly) but the conduct of this officer makes me believe that action wasn’t an accident at all.

From there the officer literally threatens to murder the driver. There are a couple of things to take away from this situation. First, never ever ever talk to the police more than you’re legally required to. After the driver was finally able to inform the officer that he was carry a firearm he should have said nothing afterwards. Don’t try to explain your situation, don’t try to reason with the officer, say nothing as is your fifth amendment right. It’s the job of the officer to use everything you say against you a believe me they will do exactly that. This goes double for hotheads like the officer shown in the above video as he’s angry and if you talk you’re likely to raise you voice in anger as well.

Second, if you’re in Ohio and must legally inform the police that you’re armed ignore any attempts of officer to cut you off. If they attempt to interrupt you before you’ve informed them that you’re carrying keep talking and raise your voice above the officer’s so he can’t claim he didn’t hear you.

Third, all officers should be recorded while they’re on duty. This also means there should be no laws against individuals recording the police either. If the dashcam video had not seen the light of day the driver could very well be facing graver charges as the officer would basically be able to claim anything he wanted. Without video and audio evidence it’s your word against theirs and the state is always going to side with their own agents.

Four, have a lawyer available to you. You should have setup a consultation with a lawyer when you obtained your permit because the last thing you want to figure out after you’ve had to defend yourself is who you’re going to call. The driver in this video would have been better off remaining silent and contacting his lawyer at the earliest convenience. With the way the officer was acting I wouldn’t have been surprised if he started beating the driver.

The officer in this video should be brought up on every available charge in the book. At the very least he threatened to murder a non-violent individual. If those who are supposedly tasked with protecting us are threatening to murder us we should no longer be required to keep them in our employ.