Can I record the police during an interaction?
Hripsime Bagdasaryan's Answer
Full Transcript
Below is an AI-generated transcript of the video answer.
So the question is, can you record the police during an interaction?
So yes, you can record the police during an interaction if you're in a public place, if
you're not interfering with police activity, so this is very important.
You can't be in their way if they're trying to arrest someone, pushing and pulling, things
like that.
If you're far enough distance away, yes, in a public place, you're allowed to record them.
Even if you're openly recording, you can't secretly record them in their private conversation,
so that's not allowed.
Another thing is, the rules are different if you're trying to record the police and
if they're at your home versus if they're in a public place.
If the police are at your door, for example, you can freely record them from inside of
your house or your doorway.
There's no expectation of privacy of police officers when they are standing outside.
And it's generally protected under the same case law that protects you for recording
them in public.
If they have a warrant or if you let them in, you can freely record them inside openly.
You still should not record secret audio because California law specifically requires consent
for private conversation recording.
But the best practice is to make it obvious that you're recording, whether or not that
scenario is in your home or on a public street.
Biggest thing is, do not physically interfere.
Do not cause safety issues.
Just don't interfere with their investigation and you can record police at your home and
you can record police in the street as long as you do it openly, freely, without interfering
with their police work.