WASHINGTON - June 20, 2011 - Despite many lawyers saying that police must first obtain a subpoena before confiscating a camera, police throughout the country continue to do so.
They are justifying it by claiming it is evidence.
The latest example comes from Washington D.C., where police confiscated a phone from a woman who had recorded some type of altercation between police and another man.
They returned it five days later.
A police spokeswoman told NBC that they had every right to confiscate the phone as evidence; and the reporter seemed to believe her, as so many mainstream reporters do these days.
But the reporter then spoke to an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, who said they needed a subpoena to confiscate a camera.
The only exception is when the camera is used in the commission of a crime, such as upskirting or child pornography.
However, it doesn’t appear anything will be done about the illegal seizure in this case or in other cases, so police will continue to break the law until somebody finally takes a stand.
