Friday, September 30, 2011

Police Beat: Intimidate the Citizen

This Illinois man was pulled over for speeding late at night when he decided to videotape the stop. He did not know Illinois makes it a felony offense to eavesdrop without consent from all parties. Once the cop finds out he is being recorded by the driver without his permission, he promptly arrests him for felony eavesdropping. Notice that the stop was also being recorded by the cop's own dashboard video cam. The charge was dropped, but the offended citizen responds by challenging the law's constitutionality in court with the help of the ACLU [no commercial endorsement intended]: