A little pressure can go a long toward making them do the right thing sometimes:
A case that attracted nationwide attention has ended with the dropping of a felony wiretapping charge against a Carlisle man who recorded a police officer during a traffic stop.
Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said his decision will affect not only Brian Kelly, 18, but also will establish a policy for police departments countywide.
"When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges," Freed said yesterday. "I intend to communicate this decision to all police agencies within the county so that officers on the street are better-prepared to handle a similar situation should it arise again."
This should come as no surprise considering all of the bad publicity this case had gotten. The part that is out of the ordinary is the fact that the district attorney badmouths the law so much in the article. It was a smart decision since a jury would probably have found it very hard to understand why a law on wiretapping would apply in a case that happened out in the open, since the public has been told for years that there is no legal expectation of privacy in public by the legal system.
Still, it might have been good for a case like this to go to court so that the law could be ruled unconstitutional. I'm not going to hold my breath on whether or not the Pennsylvania legislature will revisit this law as the district attorney says needs to be done.
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