doc_1835946

WINDERMERE POLICE DEPARTMENT GENERAL ORDER Effective Date: June 13, 2022  New Policy Amends 6.13 (October 21, 2019) Number: 6.13 SUBJECT: Recording Police Activity Print Date: 06/13/22 Distribution: All Personnel Review Month: June This order consists of the following: 1. Purpose 2. Policy 3. Definitions 4. Procedures 1. Purpose This policy provides officers with guidance for dealing with situations in which they are being recorded, to include photographing, videotaping, audiotaping, or both, by memb ers of the public or the press. 2. Policy Members of the public, including media repr esentatives, have a First Amendment right to record officers in public places, as l ong as their actions do not interfere with the officer’s duties or the safety of officers or others. Officers should assume that they are being recorded at all times when on duty in a public space. 3. Definitions A. Media – The storage source for visual or audio recordings, whether by film, analog, or digital means. B. Recording - Capturing of images, audio, or both, by means of a camera, cell phone, audio recorder, or other device. 6.13, Page 2 4. Procedures A. Persons who are lawfully in public spaces or locations where they have a legal right to be present —such as their home, place of business, or the common areas of public and private facilities and buildings —have a First Amendment right to record things in plain sight or hea ring, to include police activity. Police may not threaten, intimidate, or otherwise d iscourage or interfere with the recording of police activities. However, the right to record is not absolute and is subject to legitimate and reasonable legal restrictio ns, as follows: 1. A reasonable distance must be maintained from the officer(s) engaged in enforcement or related police duties. 2. Persons engaged in recording activities may not obstruct police actions. For example, individua ls may not interfere through di rect physical intervention, tampering with a witness, or by persistently engaging an officer with questions or interruptions. The fact that recording and/or overt verbal criticism, insults, or name -calling may be annoying, does not of itself justify an office r taking enforcement action or ordering that recording be stopped, as this is an infringement on an individual’s constitutional right to protected speech. 3. Recording must be conducted in a manner that does not unreasonably impede the movement of emergency e quipment and personnel or the flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic. 4. The safety of officers, victims, witnesses, and third parties cannot be jeopardized by the recording party. a. Officers should be very specific and provide clear direction to individual s they are asking to move (e.g., Sir/Mam, You need to move back 20 feet, onto the sidewalk and by the tree so I can continuing doing my job safely). b. Best practice is to ignore a camera. B. Arrest 1. Persons who violate the foregoing restrictions should be informed that they are engaged in prohibited activity and given information on acceptable alternatives, where appropriate, prior to making an arrest. 6.13, Page 3 2. Arrest of a person who is recording officers in public shall be related to an objective, art iculable violation of the law unrelated to the act of recording. The act of recording does not, in itself, provide grounds for detention or arrest. 3. Arrest of an individual does not provide an exception to the warrant requirement justifying search of th e individual’ s recording equipment or media. While equipment may be seized incident to an arrest, downloading, viewing, or otherwise accessing f iles requires a search warrant. Files and media shall not be altered or erased under any circumstances. C. Seizure of Recording Devices and Media 1. Absent arrest of the recording party, recording equipment may not be seized. Additionally, officers may not order an individual to show recordings that have been made o f enforce ment actions or other police operations . 2. If there is pro bable cause to believe that evi dence of a serious crime has been recorded, an officer should : a. Advise and receive instructions from a supervisor; b. Ask the person in possession of the record ing if he or she will consent to voluntarily and temporarily relinquish the recording device or media so that it may be viewed and/or copied as evidence; and , c. In exigent circumstances, in which it is reasonable to believe that the recording will be destroyed, lost, tampered with or o therwise rendered useless as evidence be fore a warr ant can be obtained, the record ing device or media may be seized under a temporary restraint. A warrant must be obtained in order to examine and copy the recording and the chain of custody must be clearly documented per department policy. 3. In exigent situations where it is objectively reasonable to believe that immediate viewing of recordings is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm of another before a warrant can be authorized, the recording device or media may be seized and viewed. 6.13, Page 4 4. Whenever a recording device or media is seized without a warrant or obtained by voluntary consent, the seized item shall be held in polic e custody