Quote Originally Posted by japanpimp View Post
If the police felt that the actions of the filmer were interfering with their job and making the situation more difficult, then I say an arrest is OK. BUT, and this is a big but... police and law enforcement should not have a right to erase the video. Taking the camera/phone/video recorder? Ok. But erasing the info? Not OK. The device should have been held until a judge and lawyers made a decision about wheter or not it is OK to delete the info on it. Once a device gets into the hands of law enforcement it becomes state property. And if you tamper with it then that is against the law. It would be like police confiscating drugs but then burning the drugs or flushing them down the toilet at the police station. The drugs are evidence AND state property and police have no right to destroy anything.
Not sure about judges/lawyers and or state officials being able to delete a citizens video either. Its either use it as part of a ongoing court case, use in a ongoing investigation, or release to the original owner, or if part of a classified ongoing investigation(federal type) it could be locked up for many years. Any deletion creates the illusion of government wrong doing even if it wasn't there.