What are your thoughts on the new Illinois law making it a felony to video an ar

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   ChristinSposted 12 years ago

   What are your thoughts on the new Illinois law making it a felony to video an arrest?
   
   This law went into effect ahead of Chicago's G8 summit - where there tends to be a lot of protests.  It also, in my opinion, is a threat to our constitution and freedom.  Why should it be a felony to video record evidence of police brutality? or an arrest in general? - I mean if the police are just doing their jobs - why should it matter if someone records them.  If the police are engaged in brutality or false arrest etc. doesn't having the ability to video them benefit the citizens?  I am very alarmed and appalled by this and Obama's recent signing of the NDAA - this path is scary.

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2. 61

   xerxes iamposted 12 years ago

   Its hideously appaling, glad i dont live in that state. In my home state of Washington. We've had many cases involving both audio and video recording of our glorious public servants. Let's just say, the subjects, got their panties in a bunch, but were told to go to lunch, with the rulings from our justices. Now this issue has become a RIGHT bestowed upon our citizens. Eventhough, every now and then, the children in blue still need their little hands smacked, to remind them of what the law is.

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   duffsmomposted 12 years ago

   Gestapo comes to mind.

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4. 0

   Poetic Foolposted 12 years ago

   It's ridiculous!  If law enforcement is following policy, then they have nothing to worry about.  I fully support our law enforcement officers.  Their's is a very difficult and dangerous job that often requires tough decisions be made in a split second.  Sometimes there can't be a resolution where everyone is happy. That said, these officers understood that when they were sworn in and should be held to a high standard of ethics and performance.
   
   It is the right and responsibility of the citizenry to hold their government and its agents (law enforcement) accountable.  This seems to me to be a clear violation of our rights.  I wonder if it will be appealed?  It should be.

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   Dee aka Nonnaposted 12 years ago

   Just get ready.  There will, no doubt, be a rise in unprofessional conduct by police officers.

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   justmesuzanneposted 12 years ago

   It's unconstitutional and along the same lines as laws attempting to prevent videos of animal abuse in factory farms and slaughterhouses. The police department just wants to be able to do whatever they want whenever they want with nothing in the way. It needs to be stopped!

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7. 60

   AngelTraderposted 12 years ago

   What you describe isn't a law but a statute you can either 'consent' to or not. Nobody on this planet has the 'Right' or the 'Authority' to tell anybody else what to do WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT...this is an incontestable FACT. We are governed by CONSENT and we are policed by CONSENT. It all comes down to the good old Maritime Admiralty Law, legalese talk and how what you believe to be straightforward English is anything but.
   
   Take the Police for instance...they have no right whatsoever to ask for your name, details...in fact anything at all if you do not give them consent. But they will bully and cajole you into unwittingly consenting by giving up the information they demand. When they ask you...'Do you understand' they are entering a contract with you, if you say 'yes' you have unwittingly agreed to 'Stand Under' and abide by whatever they decide. Never, ever say yes but question them.
   
   The Common Law or Law of the Land is what mankind has made...they are universal, unchangeable based entirely on Common Sense! They are applied by Courts, called Courts de Jure (of Justice) and are set before a jury of 12. What we have happening all over the world however is something completely different.
   
   This action in Illinois is in fact a STATUTE. Statutes are the legislated rules of societes created by Parliaments and Congresses to suit themselves. Like Common Law mankind also makes them but in this instance a select, self serving group changes them in accordance with its own desires, wishes, wants, needs depending on the situation...hence this 'unlawful' statute regards filming.
   
   Cases brought about through statutes appear at a court of commerce, not law.
   
   To be honest I'll just turn this answer into a hub...

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   Compliance Doctorposted 11 years ago

   If I were any ethnic background other than white, I would be gravely concerned about this new law.  Having lived in Chicago for several years, I saw the corrupt law enforcement as it was then.  I can only imagine how it is now, the mere fact that this was brought before the state to make a law, this is alarming enough for me to want to move from this state profound.  To video tape anything that positions the victim in a position of control, this is healthy to keep crime and corruptness at a minimum.  It's like the picture story board I love so much...imagine this, "a high school teacher looses his cool with a student and pulls back his hand as if he was about to slap the student in the face...but right before he makes the slap, he looks around and sees all thirty students observing this behavior with their camera phones and about to snap the picture or video any second, a true loaded gun".  Now we know that slap never happened.  This can be applied to any form of inappropriate behavior, a brilliant display of needing to think before action is taken.

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   Xenonlitposted 11 years ago

   Then it needs to be challenged to the Supreme Court. This is the precursor to a Gestapo like police force. Police forces are hiring trigger happy, White, racist psychopaths who are killing people out of incompetence or for personal gratification. They need to be photographed and videotaped in the act, whether they are doing the right thing or not. The police need to realize that someone may take a video that will help them in court. Above anything else, this is a constitutional free speech issue.

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    andrew savageposted 11 years ago

    It is a blatantly obvious breach of the first amendment.

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