This past Friday while Pete and I were on our way back from lunch we spotted an Ohio State Trooper, who had someone pulled over. We decided to stop and film the traffic stop so we got out and walked toward the scene, remembering to keep our distance as it’s ‘illegal’ to interfere with a traffic stop.
As you see in the video, it was a pretty basic stop. Man in car with worried look on his face, wondering how much this victimless ‘crime’ was going to cost him, and a straight brimmed hat, ugly uniform cop with his chest puffed out on a quest to protect the people. We didn’t know the man who was pulled over we just wanted to film the situation. Making sure there was documentation in case anyone needed to be held accountable.
It wasn’t until after the stop that things got interesting. Like so many other videos out there the cop quickly became more concerned about us than what he was doing at the time. He quickly approached us and asked me to turn off the camera and I politely declined. The officer then inquired about the firearm Pete had strapped to his ankle, Ohio is an open carry state for those who are unfamiliar.
After a quick back and forth, as seen in the video, the officer decides to abandon his quest to arrest us and simply says, “Okay, alright” and leaves. I don’t know exactly what it was but I know that being armed with knowledge, a camera and firearm didn’t hurt our situation one bit. One or all of those might be the reason why this officer decided not to push the issue any further.
I’m going to email this link and video to the Ohio State Troopers office, maybe they can enlighten me on why an officer would lie (about the permit) and ask me to shut off a camera?
*UPDATE* (posted at 11:20am eastern time) Last night I sent this post to the Ohio State Troopers email found on line. This morning I got this response:
Adam – The trooper in the video called me immediately after the stop and was inquiring about the Open Carry law. Unlike the Concealed Carry law this is not a situation that we come across very often. It brought about a good discussion at roll-call and all the troops have been updated about the difference between the two laws.As for the video camera, as you have the right to video tape us we have the right to ask you to turn it off.If you have any further questions feel free to give me a call here at the Findlay Post. 419-423-3438.Lieutenant Jerrod A. Savidge
OSP Findlay
419-423-3438
It seems Cop Block has helped the people of Ohio from being questioned or harassed about open carrying. Score one for us. As far as the camera is concerned, they may have a right to ask but you don’t have to. It is merely a request like any other person without a badge can do. So ask yourself would you stop filming a man with a gun who was questioning your friend?
email: CopBlock[at]gmail.com
Maybe alot of cops had an unfortunate childhood experience involving a camera.
Good work.
While I was at Court I saw someone’s trial end. The cop had charged him with “concealed weapon” even though the knife with an 8″ blade had been hanging in the perfectly legal manner from the outside of his belt. If you had turned off that camera you’d have gone to jail for a concealed weapon.
Hahaha!
A very revealing email. What that guy just told you is that Ohio State Troopers don’t understand very simple laws that they are paid to uphold on a daily basis. Furthermore, he seems to have dodged your question regarding the camera. I was under the impression you wanted to know *why* the State Trooper asked you to turn off the camera. Saying “we have the right” does not answer the why.
Curtis,
Was the guy wearing a jacket that covered the knife handle when he was arrested. In a lot of places they will ding you with a concealed carry charge if you have a gun in a holster on your belt and your coat/jacket covers the gun. Even though the bottom of the holster is in plain open view.
I just watched this again. I find it really bizarre that the cop would ask for the camera to be turned off immediately before leaving the scene. What was he planning to do if it *had* turned it off?
Hi Adm et al,
One thought that occured to me (along the line of Dr Q’s comment) what if there had been only one of you as opposed to 2. I am aware of one of you, I think Adam< standing-down 2 cops re: ccamera/open carry in AZ or NM?
We each have a sidearm, some more toys in the cruiser, a pair of cuffs, a dispatcher, and the right to “ask” you not to film. And you have the right to decline a request. Really. Go ahead. Try it. *places palm on nightstick*
Got to love copatude,,,,,,,,,,you guys crack me up
I welcome filming of my traffic stops, and have never asked someone to turn off their camera. I believe and police transparency. Unlike a lot of officers, I still believe in serving the public, no matter how stupid they act. Stay in your staging area and let me do my job. Out of range of my dash-cam a spectator video cleared me of wrong doing. Thanks for helping me do my job, Know your rights because we aren’t responsible for your uneducated actions, but be courteous and polite. I don’t start my shift with a case of PMS, but it develops rapidly when people forget who is carrying the gun and badge. Don’t challenge me because I am a woman, When I ask you to step back-do it. I spent $40,000 on an education to know your rights and mine. Bottom line: Don’t impede or tasing proceeds. Hey Uh huh, forget the night stick! We didn’t get tased at the academy for nothing! Make em chubbacka!
Ldybdge – While I applaud your support of using cameras for both your safety and ours, I must say that your “might makes right” attitude about having a gun and a badge is pretty appalling. Do you believe that you are always correct, or doing the right thing just because you have a badge and a gun? I would disagree with you there. Sometimes it is the person with a badge and a gun that is doing the wrong thing, and a brave citizen is morally justified in forgetting “who is carrying the gun and badge” and standing up to abuses.
I further do not agree that if someone does not step back, that the punishment is a tasering. If you believe in “serving” the public, then maybe you should have a little more tolerance for somewhat noncompliant people instead of jumping right to painful methods of forced compliance.
Jenn, Its not an attitude attached. As a female deputy you have to understand men challenge us and woman think they can talk their way out of a ticket with us. You misread, I never said I do the right thing because I have a badge and a gun.I admit unlike most in our profession that I have been wrong on a few occasions and took steps to rectify those wrongs immediately. Take note, I was incarcerated most of my juvenile life! If a person is within 20 feet and is causing a disturbance and doesn’t follow orders I will do what is needed to protect myself AND my suspect. I obviously agree with the fact that a concerned citizen doing the right thing with disregard to my badge is acceptable if I’m doing the wrong thing, but they cannot jeopardize an investigation. For all they know the suspect could be armed and the by stander could end up in the cross-hairs. I can tell you to step back all day if I want and some people won’t listen, I can wait for backup and get shot in the process or I can make you do what you need to do. The gun and taser are tools of my trade, I prefer the taser because you will recover in less then 15 seconds with no permanent effects. If you work at a bank and your trying to give a customer money and someone keeps cutting in line trying to get your attention you would throw them out the bank in call the cops-because your in danger. When Im with a suspect, the public is in danger and its my job to make sure that threat is stopped immediately. If someone like the person cutting in line is standing to close and refuses to back up after 10 minutes of being told, who are we supposed to call??? How do I know you don’t have a gun? What if you refuse to identify yourself? Force is my last resort-Im the good/nice cop! But don’t keep me from protecting you and the rest of the public by making a scene and keeping me from doing just that. I’ve tased 6 people in 3 months, and those are on bar crawl nights when drunk people like to play hero. All but one tasing incident involved unruly bystanders trying to grab for the detained or touching me-one even tried to open the back door to my cruiser. Im not taser happy sweety, I do my job well. Most of our repeats ask for me, because I’m fair and I give breaks when I see people really trying. Im about cleaning up our community, I took an oath and I stand by it.
And FYI
I’ve been shot twice in my early employment because I let someone STAND near filming while I arrested his girlfriend. I told him to step back several times and he refused, and i went about my business areesting the lady. As I was getting into the cruiser he put down the camera and took out a gun and fired twice. I’m a mother and don’t want to face the day when I might have to shoot somone. But laying in that hospital bed close to death, I vowed to always secure my perimeter and tase non-compliant individuals which I see as threatening. Mind you this is almost never old ladys and kids, because they usually listen to us. Its the teens and men that seem to want to challenge authority. My auithority has not gone to my head at all and it will probably get me killed some day! Just chew on that and let us cops tell our jokes. If you had to do our job(which is one of the worst jobs in the world) you would feel about the same.
Signed,
Egoless cop!
ldybdge, I am confused. The issue was someone standing quietly **a good 100 feet away** while filming.
Your excuse for opposing being filmed is that you once got shot when you allowed someone to disobey your order that he back off from **bad-breath distance**.
I understand that getting shot was a traumatic experience. But your equating a hundred feet with touching distance is bizarre. How far away must someone stand with a cellphone to avoid your wrath? Since 100 feet is too close, would your comfort limit be 500 feet? A half-mile? What?
I agree with you ldybdge, coqui33 is just an idiot that has no idea about being a cop and what we have to go through. I have been an officer for 15 years and understand exactly what you mean.
I agree with you ldybdge, coqui33 is just an idiot that has no idea about being a cop and what we have to go through. I have been an officer for 15 years and understand exactly what you mean.
i dont understand why they wanna go out and film officers doing their jobs. They just come out of nowhere filming them and can’t understand why the cop is concerned. If a cop did that to them they would be complaining of harassment. if you wanna film somebody nad turn it in, film a drug deal going down or prostitution in your neighborhood and let the police do their jobs. The same idiots that go out and do this, messing with the cops, are the same ones that would be begging for them when they need their help. Go up to a drug dealer on the corner and tell them you have a right to film them and see what happens.
coqui33 -You seem to have a problem processing what was laid out in that post and obviously missed the first post I made, as you read it with bias in mind. Be honest, you just wanted to flame someone because you either have a problem with cops, or you just like to stir stuff up.
1) I DO NOT oppose being filmed-read my very first post. I encourage it, as it has cleared me of wrong doing when my dash-cam couldn’t see me. It also can provide great evidence against suspects that my dash cam misses.
2) As far as distance, I am speaking on my own personal experiences in response to another poster. I do not care where you stand when I am working and you are filming. The acceptable range for most is 100 feet. I’ll let you get as close as 20 before I will even consider speaking to you. Closer than 20 feet and I will ask that you identify yourself and your intended purpose. Just saying “I am just a bystander exercising my right to film a public service.” WILL do just fine as an explanation-I don’t care about your name, I just want to rule you out as a threat.
So no- I don’t oppose filming, but for you to call that an excuse from any angle shows a blatant disregard for the safety and sanctity of human life. I gave that person the benefit of doubt, and let him be that close. At further than 20 feet, that person would have missed or I would have had ample time to defend myself and save the suspect from the crossfire-Mind you, she took one to the head.
3)I am not sure where to find the relation between the 100 feet and “touching distance.” When I speak of touching distance, we are talking crown control in close quarters with people standing on cars to film with cell phones. Also situations where people have grabbed for my sidearm. AGAIN In this situation I welcome it-witnesses get it wrong all too often in court, and those videos clear us every-time(us good guys where I work.)
No one shooting video of me has ever incurred “my wrath”. No video has ever done me harm in court. 100% of the time, those videos work against the suspect, and my video witnesses are more than willing to share and testify for me. We keep our community safe and they appreciate that.
Reread all three posts without the assumption bias that all cops are bad. Some of us just want to keep our place safe, not all of us are power tripping bullies set on alienating rights. Remember there is shock value in video. The public sees videos that outrage the public by cops doing wrong. Its rare you get to see all the video of cops doing right and saving lives. There are plenty, but because they don’t get someones blood boiling, no one is interested.
Load up the cameras, come to my town, most video witnesses even get a small reward for being of service. Its just a coupon, but hey-you do you job as a citizen by helping us do our jobs as public servants and you will be the proud bearer of a free meal coupon from the local upscale hotspot-complete with a complimentary bottle of wine.
Sidekick-
thanks for the props! Some of these filmers think they are doing cops in with these videos. What they are showing is cops that have a problem with it. Most of us don’t. The key is that they don’t interfere. If they pay taxes, its in our paycheck. I dont blame people for wanting to make sure we are properly earning their tax dollars. That’s fine, and should be fine with any officer if they have nothing to hide-as long as they dont make our job harder.
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