Do Maryland state police also have video in their vehicles like you see in
other states? How does this apply to their taping law?
I work in the Fire Department on an Air Force base in Oklahoma.. Even
though Oklahoma only requires one party knowing of the recording, standard
procedure in the Air Force is to send a beep over the phone line every 15
seconds so that everyone knows its being recorded... We have about 30 phone
lines in the dispatch room and while a few are specifically for emergency
reporting we do receive emergency calls on all the lines so we record all of
them. I personally believe any conversation should be allowed to be recorded
by either party of any call...
I once received a call from a woman at another base. It was completely job
related.. She asked what those beeps were for and I told her. Well she got
kind of irritated and wanted me to give her a call on a non-recorded line..
I said no if she did'nt want it recorded we had no business talking about
it.
Let me tell you that tape machine has saved us more times than I can count..
Other agencies on base like to blame the fire department if something
doesn't happen like it should.. Usually information being passed is not sent
and when the fingers start pointing I just invite everyone over to the
station to listen to the digital recording and that shuts them up quick...
Jon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Trei, Peter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Bill Stewart'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "'Sandy Sandfort'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 12:06 PM
Subject: RE: Recording conversations and the laws of men
> > ----------
> > From: Sandy Sandfort[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 12:30 PM
> > To: Trei, Peter; 'Bill Stewart'; '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> > Subject: RE: Recording conversations and the laws of men
> >
> > Peter wrote:
> >
> > > And if you're in a two-party state,
> > > unless you have a sign or tell the
> > > trooper that you're recording, you
> > > can wind up in jail. It's happened
> > > recently here in Massachusetts.
> >
> > Details, citation, URL, please.
> >
> >
> > S a n d y
> >
> How many do you want? It looks like he's not
> behind bars, but got 6 months probation, a $500
> fine, and a felony rap, for daring to record an
> officer on duty.
>
> The last post is the most complete, and is by a
> familiar name.
>
> Peter Trei
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> Here's the relevant state law for Massachusetts:
> [start quote]
> Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 272 , � 99 (1999): It is a crime to record any
> conversation, whether oral or wire, without the consent of all parties
> in Massachusetts. The penalty for violating the law is a fine of up to
> $10,000 and a jail sentence of up to five years.
> [end quote]
>
> (http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ is a useful resource)
>
> Similar laws exist in
> California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Montana,
> Nevada,
> New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.
>
> --------------------------------------------
> Try Googleing or Dejaing "Micheal Hyde" and "porsche"
> --------------------------------------------
> http://www.reason.com/9911/brickbats.html
>
> After being pulled over while driving in Abington, Massachusetts, Michael
> Hyde landed in
> court--on charges of wiretapping. Hyde thought he was being harassed
because
> he had long
> hair and drove a fancy Porsche. The officers told Hyde his license plate
> wasn't properly
> illuminated and that his exhaust was too loud. The stop led to no traffic
> charges, but Hyde
> says he taped the police officer harassing him, asking if Hyde had drugs.
> And that's where
> the wiretap charge comes in. The police claim Hyde illegally violated the
> officer's privacy by
> taping the traffic stop. "Police officers have the same rights as other
> citizens," said prosecutor
> Paul Dawley, adding that if the tables were turned and police were caught
> taping someone
> without permission, people would be outraged. That seems to ignore the
fact
> that traffic stops
> are recorded all the time by videotapes mounted in police cruisers. The
> people stopped are
> rarely informed that they are being taped.
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
> http://www.interesting-people.org/199904/0043.html
>
>
> >From: "David P. Reed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> >
> >[the URL for this was inadvertently left out... it is:
> >
>
>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/107/metro/Motorist_s_tape_of_traffic_stop
> _lands_him_in_court+.shtml
> >]
> >I thought I lived in a state that took the rights of citizens against
abuse
> of police power seriously. In the following Boston
> Globe story, though, it appears that some police and D.A.'s will twist the
> laws as necessary to make sure that police actions
> are "private" and hidden from public scrutiny.
> >
> >David Brin - where are you when we need you?
> >
> > From the Boston Globe Online today:
> >Motorist's tape of traffic stop lands him in court
> >Wiretap charge in bid for misconduct
> >(By Hermione Malone, Globe Correspondent)
> >On Oct. 26, 1998, Michael Hyde got a familiar feeling. Driving his
Porsche
> on Route 123 in Abington, he noticed a police
> officer looking at him from the entrance of a convenience store.
> -------------------------------------
> Deja'd from misc.legal.moderated:
>
>
> Excerpts from the _Globe_ story April 17 1999, before the trial:
>
> On Oct. 26, 1998, Michael Hyde got a familiar feeling. Driving his
> Porsche on Route 123 in Abington, he noticed a police officer looking
> at him from the entrance of a convenience store. Jokingly, Hyde turned
> to his friend in the car and said, ''Ever have that feeling that
> someone isn't going to leave you alone?''
>
> A mile down the road, that officer, Michael Aziz, stopped Hyde's car, and
> what happened next, Hyde says, amounts to simple harassment, involving
four
> officers, because he and his friend looked like drug dealers to the
police.
>
> ''I was driving a Porsche 928, I'm in a band, have long hair, and my
friend
> was wearing a leather coat, and somehow that added up to cocaine,'' he
> said, adding that one officer asked if he had any ''blow in the dash.''
>
> That quote, he states, is on a tape of the encounter. Like an increasing
> number of motorists in the wake of the Rodney King confrontation with Los
> Angeles police, police say, Hyde taped the traffic stop.
>
> But this time, the police are fighting back. They indicted Hyde on a
> wiretapping statute, alleging that he illegally violated the officers'
> privacy.
>
> ''Police officers have the same rights as other citizens,'' insisted
> Plymouth County prosecutor Paul Dawley, stating that, if the tables were
> turned and a police officer were caught taping someone without
permission,
> people would be outraged.
> -----------------------------------------
> alt.activism.children, 99/07/06
>
> By Ellen O'Brien, Globe Staff, 07/03/99
>
> BROCKTON - The case of Michael Hyde vs. the town of Abington
> began with a routine traffic stop and ended yesterday when the
> 31-year-old rock musician was found guilty of a felony - tape
> recording the voices of patrol officers without them knowing.
>
> In an unusual turnabout against a motorist who used a recording
> device to monitor alleged police misbehavior, Plymouth County
> prosecutors won their argument that four Abington police officers
> were protected by the same law that protects civilians against
> illegal wire tapping.
>
> Hyde, who believed the officers had unfairly targeted him because
> of his appearance, recorded their words on the hand-held recorder
> that he kept in his Porche 928.
>
> He was sentenced to six months' probation by Brockton District
> Court Judge David Nagle after a jury of six took less than one
> hour to determine that Hyde had broken the law when he pressed
> the record button on Oct. 26, 1998, as Abington police officer
> Michael Aziz stopped Hyde on Route 123.
>
> Hyde had made that tape recording public and it revealed that at
> least one of the four officers who arrived at the scene used
> profanity, threatened him with jail, and questioned him about the
> possibility of cocaine in his possession. The tape revealed that
> Abington police Sergeant Kevin Forst asked Hyde if he had any
> ''blow in the dash''.
>
> That traffic stop did not result in any ticket or fine, but Hyde
> complained to Abington police the next day about what he felt was
> harassment.
>
> In an unusual turnaround, Abington police filed charges against
> Hyde for illegally recording the traffic stop.
>
> Plymouth County prosecutors said the six-month probation and $500
> fine were appropriate.
>
> ''The jury clearly understood that Mr. Hyde had broken the law,
> and we're satisfied with the result,'' said Paul Dawley, Plymouth
> County Deputy First Assistant District Atorney.
>
> Hyde and his attorney, James Greenberg, vowed an appeal.
>
> ''I don't blame the jury,'' Hyde said. ''I blame a system that
> does not hold police responsible. These are people who our tax
> dollars go to. I think we are all entitled to know what they say,
> and how they act, all the time.''
>
> The felony statute Hyde broke states that conversations cannot be
> recorded without both parties' knowledge.
>
> Boston criminal attorney Thomas Hoopes said he was not surprised
> at yesterday's verdict or surprised the trial was widely watched
> by the public and legal specialists.
>
> ''The truth of the matter is a lot of police officers do a great
> job, but there are also a lot of people who would like to have a
> tape recorder when they are stopped by those who are not doing
> such a professional job,'' Hoopes said.
>
> Hyde said he is worried his conviction will make him a future
> target for law enforcement officers and harassnent.
>
> Hyde, a Braintree resident, was stopped by Abington police for
> having a loud exhaust system, though he maintains the police were
> hostile toward him because of his long, curly chestnut-colored
> hair. He said he questioned the officers when they stopped him,
> cooperating but making inquires throughout the process.
>
> ''They wonder why drivers aren't always so agreeable,'' Hyde
> said. ''It's because police officers, some of them, get into this
> mode where they are so hyped up they have clearly gone beyond
> what is necessary for a traffic stop.''
>
> The Commonwealth acknowledged that the felony charge attracted
> lots of attention, with the public anxious to see if police would
> be held to a different standard than those not wearing a badge.
>
> ''It got a lot of attention '' said Dawley, but this verdict
> makes clear that the jury supported the actions of the Abington
> Police,'' Dawley said.
>
> Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Sullivan said
> yesterday that Hyde's tape recording, which opens with his voice
> stating ''11 o'clock. Why am I being stopped?'' showed the jury
> that Hyde eventually became hostile.
>
> ''I'm not disapproving of what he said initially,'' Sullivan
> said, adding that motorists have a right to know why police
> officers pull them over. ''But there is no indication that the
> Abington police did anything wrong.''
>
> Hyde said that it was not unusual for him to have a tape recorder
> with him that night because he is a musician in the group Rock
> Theatre, and he travels with recording devices.
>
> ''I don't regret that I fought this all the way,'' Hyde said.
> ''But I don't think anyone who is paying state or federal tax
> dollars should not know how police are spending their time, and
> how they are treating the general public.''
>
> --
> Eric Michael Cordian 0+
> O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
> "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
>
>
>
>
>
>
