Overview

When you witness law enforcement violating someone’s constitutional rights — an unlawful arrest, excessive force, an illegal search, or a violation of free speech or assembly rights — you have both the ability and the responsibility to act. This guide explains what you can do legally and effectively as a bystander or witness.

Audience: Any person who witnesses police misconduct or government rights violations Key Principle: Your documentation, testimony, and reporting can protect victims and create accountability

Part I: Your Right to Record

The Legal Foundation

Recording police and government officials performing their duties in public is a First Amendment-protected activity in all 50 states and US territories. Federal appellate courts across multiple circuits have affirmed this right, including:

• Glik v. Cunniffe (1st Cir. 2011) — right to record is clearly established
• Sharp v. Baltimore City Police (4th Cir. 2016)
• ACLU of Illinois v. Alvarez (7th Cir. 2012)
• Fordyce v. City of Seattle (9th Cir. 1995)
• Fields v. City of Philadelphia (3rd Cir. 2017)

You do not need consent from police officers to record them in public spaces. Most states’ wiretapping and eavesdropping laws include explicit exemptions for recording government officials performing public duties.

Where You Can Record

You can record:

• On public sidewalks, streets, parks, and plazas
• In public transit stations and on public transit
• In public areas of government buildings
• From your private property (including through a window into the street)
• At protests and demonstrations

You may face restrictions:

• Inside secure government facilities
• In areas subject to lawful police access restriction (crime scene perimeters, if you are lawfully excluded)
• On private property (subject to that property owner’s rules)

If an Officer Orders You to Stop Recording

• You are not required to stop recording in a public space
• Calmly assert: “I have a First Amendment right to record police in public.”
• Do not argue aggressively — continue recording
• If the officer physically tries to stop you or threatens arrest, you face a practical choice between asserting your rights and avoiding arrest. Consider your safety.
• Document the officer’s name, badge number, and exact words

If Officers Try to Take Your Phone or Camera

• Say clearly: “I do not consent to this seizure. You need a warrant to access my phone’s contents.”
• If they take it by force, do not physically resist — document what happened
• Under Riley v. California (2014), police need a warrant to search the contents of your phone
• Officers may seize the device as evidence of an arrest (their arrest of you), but must obtain a warrant to search it
• After seizure, contact a lawyer and do not provide your passcode

Part II: How to Record Effectively

Before You Start Recording

1. Stabilize your device — hold it with both hands or brace against something
2. Turn off auto-lock — prevent the screen from locking mid-recording
3. Say the date, time, and location out loud at the start of the recording to create a timestamp
4. Enable airplane mode is NOT recommended — you may need to send the video to cloud storage immediately

What to Capture

• Wide shots first — show the full scene, all officers involved, and the surrounding environment
• Officer identification — badge numbers, name tags, vehicle numbers, uniform markings
• Crowd and bystanders — who was present as potential witnesses
• The person being arrested or confronted — their body position, demeanor, any injuries
• Specific force used — type, duration, whether the person was resisting

Secure Your Recording Immediately

If you believe your device may be seized:

1. Enable live upload to cloud — Google Photos, iCloud, or Dropbox with “upload on capture” enabled
2. Use the ACLU’s “Mobile Justice” app — automatically uploads recording to ACLU servers when stopped
3. Text the video to a trusted person off-scene immediately after recording
4. Use CopWatch apps — many cities have local CopWatch apps that upload recordings in real time

Creating Metadata-Verified Evidence

For recordings that may be used in legal proceedings:

1. Do not edit, crop, or apply filters to the original file
2. Note the exact time you started and stopped recording
3. Preserve the original file with original metadata intact
4. Create a SHA-256 hash of the original file as a digital fingerprint (free tools: sha256sum on Linux/Mac, or Hashing Tool on Windows)
5. Store a copy in at least two separate locations