Sometimes criminal trials come down to duelling versions of the truth. The police report one thing and the defendant contests the police report, saying that is not what happened. Often the police version prevails. Now individuals being arrested or otherwise involved with the police can document their interactions with law enforcement using cell phone cameras and recording devices - at least in some parts of the country.

The Oregon Supreme Court recently reversed the conviction of a man charged with violating the state's two-party consent law for the use of recording devices. A Boston lawyer won his case on appeal after he was arrested for filming police on his cell phone as they arrested someone else. The Massachusetts decision was the first by a federal appeals court to recognize the right under the First Amendment to film police. A woman in Chicago was acquitted of felony eavesdropping after she recorded an internal affairs officer who was allegedly try to discourage her from filing a sexual harassment claim.

This is clearly an issue that will not go away. Civil liberties advocates say that the ability to record law enforcement officers provides society with strong protections against police misconduct. And the argument that recoding public officials is a criminal act appears to be increasingly unconvincing.

Source: ABA Journal, "Can Citizens Use Cellphones to Record Cops? Joining 1st Circuit, Oregon Appeals Court Says Yes", by Martha Neil, Nov. 1, 2011.

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