Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek S
I can't see the point of cops wanting to get involved in a fight with someone filming if its blatantly obvious they aren't doing anything illegal. It reminds me of the episode of top gear where they race through London and some cop pulls James May over to check the film crew have the relevant permits and then completely misses the joke about escorting the crew through traffic on blues and twos and makes himself look like a tit.
That said most cops are very edgy about any arrests or what they do being filmed by outsiders as its way too easy to be edited and shown in a bad light. They don't have any powers to delete the images but they can seize the phone as evidence if need be (I've never heard of it actually coming to this but it is an option)
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the seizing of the phone as evidence doesnt bother me if it was needed though it would likely be better to just get them to send or down load the relevent video pictures at a station
as as i see it either the police or the person deleting it could be seen as tampering with evidence if an offence by the officer or those he was dealing with got to go to court
but i fear most of this down to police being overly sensitive to being watched something the rest of us seem to have to put up with wit cctv etc
if the filming was causing a disturbance or the officer really believes it is being done to further terrorism then surly he should seize the phone as evidence of such not get the person to save them selves from prosecution for either by deleting it which as i see it may even lay themselves open to problems if either of those things they believed were true
the good police need to help get the rest working to the rules to help keep those of the public who try to support them on side as i fear this one could rapidly cast them in te role of the enemy rather quickly if they are not careful