FLASHBACK: The fight for the right to record police
It used to be common for cops to arrest people for recording them
Eight years ago, I wrote a feature story for DigBoston about cops wrongfully arresting people for recording them. This was a problem all throughout Massachusetts — my story touched on examples from Boston, Fall River, Greenfield, and elsewhere.
When I wrote the piece, the state’s wiretapping law made it illegal to audio record anyone, even cops, but only if the recording was made secretly. However, cops would arrest people even for openly recording. Since then, federal courts have ruled that even secretly recording the police performing their jobs in public is protected by the First Amendment in Massachusetts.
These stories appear to be rare nowadays — perhaps because of lawsuits like the ones I wrote about — and cops themselves are buying up body cameras and dashboard cameras like crazy. Still, it’s worth revisiting the piece as a reminder that the First Amendment doesn’t defend itself. Upholding our rights requires people who are willing to challenge those in power.
Speaking of which, I also wanted to mention that one of the people I wrote about, George Thompson, received a $72,500 settlement from Fall River in 2016. He tragically died at age 53 less than a month later.
We need more people like George Thompson.
Read the full DigBoston story here.
If you’d like to read more reporting like this, please consider supporting my work financially, either by signing up for a paid subscription to this newsletter or sending me a tip via PayPal.
If you have any story ideas, let me know about them! You can email me at aquemere0@gmail.com or send me a direct message on Twitter or Mastodon.
That’s all for now.