Two more Boston articles about recording police actions

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/08/lawyer_in_key_case_regulating_recording_is_losing_battle

Lawyer in key case: Regulating recording is ‘losing battle’
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Matt Stout

The Allston attorney whose seminal case helped define the law governing publicly filming police said cops are fighting a “losing battle” if they want to regulate how and from what distance people can record them — largely because the “real issue” is how cops approach their jobs.

“The real issue is not cameras. If police are trying to combat cameras, it’s a losing battle because the cameras are just going to get smaller (and) less visible,” said Simon Glik, who a federal appeals court ruled in 2011 had his rights violated by Hub police when they charged him with felony wiretapping for filming the arrest of a man on Boston Common.

“I did not start that trend. That trend was going to happen regardless,” Glik said by phone yesterday. “I think that the attitude for police has reached a critical mass. Most people have developed their view on police force and don’t need to see any additional videos, especially people in the community where police are overrepresented.”

Glik, who won a $170,000 settlement from the city following his arrest, said any legislation that would dictate how far a video-taker can stand from police — a proposal Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans said he’d back — would be “unenforceable.”

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http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/08/mayor_commish_at_odds_over_distance_limits



TWO VIEWS: Police Commissioner William B. Evans, above, wants legislation that would limit how close the public can get to officers, but Mayor Martin J. Walsh, pointed out difficulties to such a law.

Mayor, commish at odds over distance limits
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Jack Encarnacao, Matt Stout

Police Commissioner William B. Evans’ call for a law limiting how close the public can get to officers while taping them at a crime scene got a lukewarm reception from his boss, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who said it would be “very hard” to legislate.

“I think every incident is very different, and I think we have to be very careful with that,” Walsh said. “I think it’s going to be hard to legislate that. It’s going to be very hard.”

The Herald reported yesterday that Evans is calling for laws to regulate the proliferation of cellphone-toting citizens and so-called cop watchers dedicated to recording potential police misconduct. Evans said those who tape police sometimes provoke officers, interfere with their investigations and compromise their community policing efforts.

Evans also pointed to an Aug. 3 incident when members of a videotaping crowd ignored officers’ request for help as they struggled to take a man into custody who had outstanding warrants and kicked a cop in the chest. He said there should be a law on the books holding citizens accountable for not helping police in incidents like that.