You can record police in public
Recording police officers performing their duties in public is a constitutionally protected right. Every federal circuit court that has ruled on it has held that it falls under the First Amendment's protection of the freedom to gather information. This is settled law.
Officers who order you to stop recording, delete footage, or arrest you for recording are violating your rights. That doesn't mean it won't happen — it means you have legal recourse when it does.
The constitutional basis
The First Amendment protects the right to gather information about matters of public concern. Courts have consistently ruled that filming police conducting official duties in public spaces falls squarely within this protection.
Key cases include:
- Glik v. Cunniffe (1st Circuit, 2011) — explicitly established the right
- Fields v. City of Philadelphia (3rd Circuit, 2017)
- ACLU of Illinois v. Alvarez (7th Circuit, 2012)
No circuit court has ruled against this right. States that pass laws prohibiting recording police in public have seen those laws struck down.
What "in public" means
The protection applies when:
- You are in a public space (street, sidewalk, park, public building lobby)
- The officer is performing official duties
- You are not interfering with the activity
It does not automatically apply to:
- Private property where you don't have permission to be
- Active crime scenes where police have established a perimeter
- Situations where you're physically interfering with an arrest or other police action
"Interfering" is the key word police will use to justify stopping you. Filming from a reasonable distance is not interfering. Standing back, staying quiet, and recording is not interfering.
Two-party consent wiretapping laws
Some states have "two-party consent" (all-party consent) laws for audio recording. Police have tried to use these to arrest people for recording them. Courts have largely rejected this application because:
- Officers performing public duties have a reduced expectation of privacy
- In 2012, the 7th Circuit ruled Illinois' eavesdropping law unconstitutional as applied to recording officers in public
Several states have specifically updated their laws to exempt police recording from consent requirements. Check your state, but understand that courts are largely hostile to using wiretapping laws to suppress police accountability.
Practical guidance
If told to stop:
"I am not interfering. I am exercising my First Amendment right to record police in public."
Say it once. Stay calm. Keep recording if you can safely do so.
If your phone is seized: Officers generally cannot delete your footage without a warrant, and deleting footage is destruction of evidence. If your phone is taken:
- Do not consent to a search of the phone
- Ask for a property receipt
- Contact a civil rights attorney
If you're arrested for recording: Comply with the arrest. Do not resist. The arrest itself is likely unlawful and becomes the basis for a civil rights claim. Resisting makes everything worse and removes the clean violation.
Bystander recording vs. participant recording
If you're a bystander filming an incident involving other people, your right is generally clearest. If you are yourself being stopped, detained, or arrested, the situation is more complicated — you can typically still record, but managing your own interaction with the officer takes priority.
What to do with footage
If you capture footage of police misconduct:
- Upload it immediately to a secure location before doing anything else (cloud storage, email to yourself)
- Note the time, date, location, badge numbers if visible
- Contact a civil liberties organization (ACLU, local civil rights law firms) if you witnessed something serious
- Do not delete anything — the original is more legally valuable than a copy
Quick reference
- You have a First Amendment right to record police in public. Every federal circuit agrees.
- "Interfering" means physically getting in the way — not being present or filming from a distance
- If ordered to stop: state your right calmly, keep recording
- If arrested: comply, document everything, pursue the civil rights claim afterward
- Upload footage immediately before it can be seized