Tape Recording Cop

[aanzar01]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Recently I was pulled over by a very agitated cop. He was so aggresive that while he was running my registration I thought it might be prudent to turn on the voice memo recording feature on my cell phone (this does not require making a phone call in anyway).

When the angry officer returned he notice my cell phone was open on the passenger seat and asked me if I was recording him. Before I could answer he told me that that was illegal and he ordered me to close the phone and put it away immediately.

I did so and ultimately there was no problem. But I am now curious - was I within my rights. I have since researched and found that while under Florida statute recording a conversation without the consent of all parties is illegal, consent is not required for the taping of a non-electronic communication uttered by a person who does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in that communication.

This seems vague to me-- was a conversation between the officer and I on the side of a public road a place where the officer should have a 'reasonable expectation of privacy of communication'? Was I clearly acting outside of the law, within the law, or highly dependent on who's interpreting the law?

 

[wirry1422]

The cop flat out lied. The courts have ruled that motorists are within their rights to record traffic stops with or without telling the officer he is being recorded. The courts reasoning was that police departments can and do video/audio record traffic stops themselves without having the obligation of telling the motorists that they are being recorded, so motorists have the same right. It is likely that you were being recorded by the police car's dashboard camera and wireless microphone clipped to the officer's shirt. Remember, according to the statute you quoted, the courts have interpreted that participants in a traffic stop do not legally have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their communications, as traffic stops are official business and a matter of public record. Next time hide the phone better to avoid having an influence on the officer's normal demeanor (which in this case was abusive).

 

[qcxlvr1]

You were in public. Just as the police are free to record, so is the motorist.