Photography and Surveillance Response

After reading the articles on photography and surveillance, I was a little put off.  The articles in response to people being charged for videotaping their arrest make me weary of police officers and the laws put in place to protect them.  The only reason people feel the need to record their interactions with an officer is because of police brutality.  The men and women of the law are supposed to protect and serve their cities and towns.  Most do protect and serve properly, but the few that do not are protected by laws that ultimately hurt the people they are supposed to protect.  Wendy McElroy wrote on Gozmodo.com that “Cameras have become the most effective weapon that ordinary people have to protect against and to expose police abuse. And the police want it to stop.”  The truth of the matter is that people would not have to record police interactions if police officers properly did their job, without using excessive force.

Another article tells of a woman who was arrested for legally taping police officers on her private property.  The rest of the article states that there were some differences between the paperwork filed by the arresting officer and actions seen on the video tape.  Its stories like these that make me weary of police officers.  Some feel that they are above the law and can do whatever they want, but in reality, no one is above the law.