You’re On The Government’s Candid Camera; But Should YOU Be Allowed To Record THEM?

Anthony Graber posted online a video of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun when he was stopped for going 80 miles-an-hour, popping a wheelie, and swerving in and out of lanes. The 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard is now facing a possible 16-year jail sentence for capturing his arrest on video.

In early April, state police officers raided Graber’s parents’ home in Abingdon, Md. They confiscated his camera, computers and external hard drives. Graber was indicted for allegedly violating state wiretap laws by recording the trooper without his consent.

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“The message is clearly, ‘Don’t criticize the police,'” said David Rocah, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland who is part of Graber’s defense team. “With these charges, anyone who would even think to record the police is now justifiably in fear that they will also be criminally charged.”

The police have cameras in their cars. The government has surveillance cameras at intersections.  The officer in this video wasn’t in a patrol car and was out of uniform.  How was Graber to know initially he was an officer of the law?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.