How Wiretap Laws Apply to Citizens Who Record Police (and other Free Knowledge)

Aiming a camera at police can be risky. Citizens in more than one jurisdiction have been arrested for video- and audio-recording on-duty police officers. These citizens are often documenting police abuses. In most cases, the arrests are unwarranted and based on wrongly applied wiretap statutes.

Citizens may successfully challenge their arrests as unlawful if they are in a state that allows recording of a communication as long as one party to it consents. The citizen who records police is the consenting party, so then the police cannot lawfully make an arrest to prevent the recording even if they do not consent to it.

Arrests also have occurred in states that allow recording only if all parties to it consent. In such states, citizens who record police have had difficulty challenging arrests as unlawful. Illustrative cases have occurred in three states: Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maryland.1 In these states, police arrested citizens on the basis of wiretap statutes that prohibited recording unless all parties to the conversation had consented.2

In Massachusetts, Michael Hyde was arrested in 2001 for violating the state’s wiretap statute after recording a police encounter.3 In a 4-2 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld his conviction.4 In Illinois, Christopher Drew faced 4 to 15 years for violating the wiretap statute.5 Drew recorded his arrest for selling artwork

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Now for the "Press" Angle to Police Recording:

"Reporter’s Recording Guide; A state-by-state guide to taping phone calls and in-person conversations" 28 pg.

Published: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 2012

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Employing this knowledge with your place of work.

"Secret Taping of Conversations In Employment Disputes" 32 pg.

Published: Employment Law Group Farella Braun + Martel LLP 2004

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