Maryland Man: Why I Film The Police And You Should Too!

The video above and the post below were shared with the CopBlock Network by Tyler Wayne, via the CopBlock.org Submissions Page.

Within the video, Tyler explains his reasons for filming the police while they are conducting traffic stops in and around Ocean City (MD). Many of those reasons coincide with those that contributors to the CopBlock Network have also advocated for over the years.

Obviously, one of the most important of those reasons is the chance that police will harm or even kill someone during a traffic stop or some other type of detainment. Tyler specifically brings up the recent case of Alton Sterling, but there are many other examples that can be pointed to where being stopped by police has resulted in someone being beaten or outright murdered. Having a camera recording what they are doing tends to lessen the likelihood of such an incident. Even in unfortunate cases where the police are willing to kill someone knowing they are being recorded, that recording serves as evidence of what really happened.

Something else Tyler points out in his video is that the police use the excuse of safety to justify issuing tickets to drivers. However, in reality they hide where they can’t be seen in order to catch people going faster than the speed limit. The worst kept secret in the world is that traffic tickets are nothing more than a giant revenue generation scheme. If police truly wanted to deter people from speeding, they would sit in a visible location, which would cause the vast majority of people to slow down without the need for extortion.

(Not coincidentally, we generally film the police publicly and well within sight of those cops being filmed, because, as stated above, we would prefer it acted as a deterrent to police abuses.)

Along with the video, Tyler included this statement about his reasons for filming the police:

I have recorded several police conducting traffic stops in Ocean City, Maryland over the past week. However, they have actually been polite and have not tried to stop me from recording once. I’ve noticed that they love to sit in the dark on the main strip and try to catch people speeding, so I decided to sit near them and give some insight as to why I think it’s important to record police.

– Tyler Wayne