America’s slide into a police state

The Baltimore, MD police are determined to establish new law by broadly reinterpreting (to their advantage, of course) how an existing law on wiretapping can be applied. Recording people on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists doesn't fit the traditional interpretation of wiretapping, especially since the use of cameras-on-the-street by authorities has become ubiquitous.

So why is 24-year-old Anthony John Graber III facing criminal charges for a video he recorded on his helmet-mounted camera during a March 5 traffic stop? Because some of the footage was posted to the Internet and it embarrassed the police officer involved, Trooper J.D. Uhler.

When police discovered Graber's YouTube, they got a warrant, searched his parents' house (where he presumably lives), seized equipment and charged him with violating Maryland's restrictive wiretapping law by which it is illegal to capture audio without the other person's consent; Uhler says he didn't consent. In other words, it is the audio and not the video that makes the recording and YouTube posting illegal in Maryland. (The YouTube remains posted with audio as of 17/05.)

The Baltimore Sun explains why Uhler might find the YouTube embarrassing: "Uhler's actions resembled a carjacking more than a legitimate police stop. They [police critics] note that the trooper was driving an unmarked car and was in plainclothes, brandishing a gun and taking about five seconds before he identified himself as a cop."

Baltimore criminal defense attorney Steven D. Silverman says he has never seen the Maryland wiretap law being used as it is against Graber. The application may be technically within the wording of the law but Silverman surmises, "it's more" about "'contempt of cop' than the violation of the wiretapping law."

NOTE: as I wrote the preceding, a message slipped into my inbox. "B" who contributes updates to this blog "From the Backwoods of Hell" comments:

I was reading the local rag this morning, which contained a few notable pieces on the front page: First the police are watching the river festival (the big festival for Wichita every year) from high up in buildings, with a large color photograph of officers peering out windows with binoculars. Then next to this is an article noting that Obama points his fingers at BP, Haliburton, and Transocean for the "ridiculous display" of finger pointing... Finally, and most frightening is an article detailing the new government program to train parking attendants and meter maids to spot terrorists. I find it increasingly difficult to understand how anyone can believe that we do not live in a police state. Who will be trained next? Dog walkers? Nurses as part of the health care "reform?" It seems every day I become more concerned about the place I am..

Original report here


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