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How much should you charge for a photograph?Massachusetts Police Arrest Another Man On Wiretapping Charges
A Massachusetts man is facing five years in prison after secretly recording an argument between himself and a police officer who had pulled him over for a traffic infraction.
Robert E. Mansfield was charged with felony wiretapping after he walked into the police station asking police to rescind the citation for having an obstructed license plate because of a tinted cover.
At some point during his conversation with officers at the police station, he informed them he had recorded the argument between himself and the officer.
That was when they searched his car, found two cell phones and arrested him, according to the Patriot-Ledger.
Mansfield said he had no idea it was against then law in Massachusetts to secretly record somebody’s audio, even if that person is a public official conducting public business.
But ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.
Unless, of course, you’re a police officer.
For example, a group of cops in Massachusetts who arrested a man in 2007 on wiretapping charges after he had videotaped them making an arrest in a public park are seeking qualified immunity against a civil lawsuit he has filed - claiming they had no idea it was legal to openly record cops in public.
The case is currently being reviewed by an appellate judge after another judge denied their motion to dismiss the suit on qualified immunity.
Last week, a Massachusetts cop filed an application for a criminal complaint of wiretapping charges against a woman who had videotaped him taking part in the beating a citizen.
That case will be heard in court this week.
Last month, wiretapping charges against Cop Block founders Adam Mueller and Pete Eyre were dropped after they were arrested for openly videotaping cops in front of a police station.
The Massachusetts wiretapping law makes it a crime to secretly record somebody without their consent whether or not they have an expectation of privacy.
Mansfield recorded the conversation on June 30. He was arraigned on August 2. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on October 12.
Comments
It's a fucked up law but until they change it maybe folks should stop breaking it.
Its a good thing those folks back in 1776 didn't think that way Johnny Law Huh ?
It's an outdated law that cops every day brake while using remote microphones for there dash cam
There was nothing wrong with the law. Until the Pigs with badges started perverting it to wage war on their employers, freedom, and the Constitution.
Every day there are MORE of these stories and not less. The militarized Police force is not the good guys.
Sometimes people have to practice civil disobedience to get the attention of those with the power to change the law. If enough people did this same thing on a daily basis, I think that would capture the attention of lawmakers or the courts.
The problem is, a secret demonstration is, well, secret. Nobody would ever know.
Obviously recording in public isn't illegal in Massachusetts, so that wouldn't really be much of a demonstration tactic either.
Unless you can come up with a way to secretly publicly record secretly, you'd be stuck. And if you do manage to, you might be ticketed by agents of the Department of Redundancy Department...
Wrong. Audio-taping in public actually is illegal in Mass. if done "secretly." And Mass. prosecutors have invoked this "secrecy" language to try to convict people who openly audio-taped cops in public, on the grounds that the cops hadn't noticed they were being taped.
Hmmm if you know it's fucked up how about just not enforcing it? That is and can be done, so don't give me the typical cop bs line of "We can't pick and choose what laws we enforce." because you can and do, all the time.
This is nothing more than police trying to punish people for doing something they don't like.
It's not illegal where I work so it's not an issue for me. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to enforce it either but to know its illegal and then go out and break it makes me have very little sympathy for people who get arrested for it. If they want to be a martyr, congrats then.
It's a fucked up law but until they change it maybe folks should stop breaking it.
That would be one option. One that would perfectly fit the attitude that laws are laws and should not be morally judged or resisted if unjust.
I tend to have the opposite attitude, that some laws are completely immoral, and that immoral laws should be resisted as often as possible, in as many ways as possible.
Still, to hear you say, "It's a fucked up law" is progress of some sort, I suppose.
Time to market the "Notice: Conversations with occupants may be recorded" bumper stickers.
If the guys cell phone was out in the open he wasn't secretly recording. When you see a cell phone assume your conversation is being recorded.
Don't forget Graber had his camera on his freakin' head, literally, and the psychos still arrested him for wiretapping.
After pulling a gun on him for speeding and popping a wheelie.
This has nothing to do with reality or even wiretapping. This is the Police militarizing themselves and waging war on the US of A.
Military officers, holders of some public offices and some police forces swear to defend the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Foreign enemies of the constitution are generally easy to spot. But what would a domestic enemy of the constitution look like?
More and more often these days, all the people so sworn would need to find out what such an enemy looks like, would be a hand mirror.
You ask "what would a domestic enemy of the constitution look like?" That's easier then you think they are usually the ones draped in an American flag clutching a bible preaching about it's time to take "our" country back.
Yeah, because exercising their first amendment rights and speaking of inalienable rights is such a sure and certain sign of their hatred for the constitution and their desire to abolish it.
You fail.
I would love to see if one cop is attempting to arrest a photographer, a second cop tell the first cop that he wasn't breaking any laws and if the first cop continues to beat/arrest the photographer, the second cop taze the first cop!
We can dream, can we?
He should have fought the ticket in court, like a normal human being, instead of the lobby of the police department.
BINGO!
WRONGO! If you're nice enough, and the officer is nice enough (like not you) you can sometimes speak civilly with them and they may drop the case. If they don't, you can still fight it out in court.
Wrong. Injustice, tyrants, and idiots who would gladly throw freedom under the bus should be fought on any front, anytime, and without hesitation or remorse.
Kick 'em all right in the nuts for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Not if the issue wasn't over the infraction it's self but over who the officer conducted themselves in the traffic stop. I have seen a person who was wrong for their actions and watched in horror as a officer was beyond unprofessional in their interactions with that person. That is not a matter for the courts it a personal complaint.
The only thing they have to hide is the truth. People who can't stand the light hate the light because it exposes their deeds as evil.
Or because they are vampires.
That's actually a good one J Troll! Congrats.
As many a cop has said, both real and fictional: If you've got nothing to hide, what are you so worried about?
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