Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Serious jail time could result from recording cops

Serious jail time could result from recording cops

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DANVILLE - If you're thinking about recording police or other law authorities working in Illinois, you better think twice. It could cost you 15 years in prison.

Take the case of Sekiera Fitzpatrick. She was taken into custody for hiding a fugitive in her Danville home when she found out the hard way that taking a video or making a sound recording of an on-duty law enforcement official without permission is illegal.

Fitzpatrick was arrested in July after Anthony Edwards, who was wanted on a warrant, used her apartment to hide from the police. Police said they responded to the apartment after receiving a tip. Before she was put in handcuffs, officers allowed Fitzpatrick to call her mother. But instead of making the phone call, she used her phone to record her arrest.

Officer Eric Olson noticed Fitzpatrick was filming him and others, he told her that she didn't have his permission to film or record him or other officers on audio.

"I advised her she was going to be charged with eavesdropping for that," Olson said in court according to records.

That charge tripled the amount of prison time Fitzpatrick is facing because in Illinois recording an on-duty police officer without their permission carries with it the possibility of serving 15 years behind bars.

Illinois' penalty for knowingly recording audio of anyone without their consent is Class 4 felony. It is punishable by up to three years in prison. When someone like Fitzpatrick decides to record law enforcement performing their job, the charge gets ratchet up to a Class 1 felony and carries with it a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. A Class 1 felony is the same class as someone who is charged with for having more than 11 pounds of marijuana.

"Illinois is virtually unique in making it a crime to record on-duty police officers. That's because of ..., what I would say, is a defect in our eavesdropping act that other states and federal eavesdropping acts don't have, which is we've extended the ban on eavesdropping from just private conversations to all conversations, whether or not they are private," said Adam Schwartz, the senior lawyer for Illinois' American Civil Liberties Union.

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