>Chicago IL police arrest woman for recording internal affairs cops while she tried to report that cop raped her.
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23cnceavesdropping.html?_r=3
>
>..and she can get 15 years in prison for it too. What a load of BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Donahue added that allowing the audio recording of police officers while performing their duty “can affect how an officer does his job on the street.”

I hate sounding like a McCarthyite ("If you have nothing to hid, why won't you testify") but................

If the officer is doing the job properly, why is he afraid of being recorded? If he isn't doing the job properly why shouldn't the public be able to record it and get him off the streets?



Without casting aspersions on the vast majority of police officers who are doing their jobs properly, it is idiotic to assume that there aren't any who love the power they have and enjoy wielding it or are simply crooked. It is (at least IMO) idiotic to assume that there is no "protect our own" mentality that would sweep as much as posslible under the carpet so that the overall reputation of the police department can be preserved. Teachers do it, the clergy does it, the military does it and I would be flabbergasted to find that the police don't do it.

Without being able to record the events the public has no protection against "his word against mine" and juries tend to believe the cop.