Fergie's Tech Blog

Case of Police Videotaping Is Back in the Public Eye

Alan Feuer writes in The New York Times:

The judge asked the lawyer for New York City a hypothetical question: If a police officer used a video camera to record a political group that he had no reason to believe was breaking the law, was it a violation of Police Department rules? Yes or no?

The lawyer thought a moment, then replied, “Can I say that’s a trick question?”

The short exchange yesterday at a hearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan captured the flavor of the legal issues and broad moral questions that co-exist at the heart of what has come to be known as the Handschu case. First filed 36 years ago as a class-action lawsuit by a lawyer named Barbara Handschu, the case is one of the most important — and certainly longest-lived — federal disputes that have sought to balance the citizenry’s right to political expression with the police’s interest in keeping public order.

posted by Fergie @ 4/28/2007 04:03:00 PM