Jon Surmacz pulled out his phone to record police while they broke up a holiday party in December 2008 and found himself arrested for illegal electronic surveillance. The same thing happened to attorney Simon Glik, who recorded three officers struggling with a suspected drug offender—his phone was confiscated and Glik wound up behind bars.

 

Police are basing their illegal surveillance arrests on a 1968 state law that requires all parties involved in a conversation to agree to being recorded, otherwise it’s illegal.

 

Glik’s attorney, June Jensen, says Boston police have “misconstrued” state law, arguing it is not illegal for an individual to publicly record someone.

 

“The police apparently do not want witnesses to what they do in public,” said Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, who helped Surmacz get the charges against him dismissed.

 

Similar incidents have occurred in other parts of the country. For example, Hao Vang of Beaverton, Oregon, was arrested in August 2008 for using his phone to document police arresting a friend. Vang filed a federal civil rights suit against the city and one of officers in September 2009.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Police Fight Cellphone Recordings (by Daniel Rowinski, New England Center For Investigative Reporting)

Beaverton Police Fave Lawsuit over Videotaped Arrest (by Anna Song, KATU News)