Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
My question involves criminal law for the state of: Washington
I know federal law states one party consent, Washington is two party consent except when there is no expectation of privacy and I know it's legal to record police officers on duty, at least out in public. Would it hypothetically be legal to record a police officer calling you after an incident in which you were the complainant and had called dispatch requesting a follow up call?
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
Not without notice to the officer.
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
There's no problem if you disclose that you are recording. There are also a dozen or so exceptions to the privacy rule. Try reading the sections here:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.73
Note one exception is calling in the emergency (aka 911) number.
Write back if you have further questions.
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
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flyingron
There's no problem if you disclose that you are recording. There are also a dozen or so exceptions to the privacy rule. Try reading the sections here:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.73
Note one exception is calling in the emergency (aka 911) number.
Write back if you have further questions.
Thanks, yes I'm familiar with that RCW, I paraphrased it in my OP. I'm just curious to know if there is any legal precedent of non disclosed recording involving police. For example, some states tried to make it a felony to record police or government officials. The Supreme court overturned it.
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CactusJack2
I'm just curious to know if there is any legal precedent of non disclosed recording involving police.
My guess is no.
Since it's illegal to record a phone conversation without consent, you wouldn't be able to use the conversation as evidence in court or play it for anybody else.
Why do you think you need to record the conversation?
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CactusJack2
I'm just curious to know if there is any legal precedent of non disclosed recording involving police.
For your state? Not that I can see.
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adjusterjack
My guess is no.
Since it's illegal to record a phone conversation without consent, you wouldn't be able to use the conversation as evidence in court or play it for anybody else.
Why do you think you need to record the conversation?
Let's say the officer admitted they found the gun we described when they searched the suspect. He admitted this. He tried to back track as to why he was released. He couldn't come up with a reason. We have the 911 call of the guy holding us at gun point, because you can hear the guy in the background being the aggressor, and us in the background telling him do you see our hands, they are up in the air, we don't have any weapons. Some guy held us at gun point and got away with it. The conversation with the cop on the phone with my witness revealed that they did find the exact gun we described. Yet somehow they let him go....
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
The conversation on the phone does not prove diddly squat. You could all have been reading from a script for all someone on the other end of the phone knows.
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Wait, so your statements over a phone call can’t be used as evidence in a court case then?
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zags4champs
Wait, so your statements over a phone call can’t be used as evidence in a court case then?
Of course they can. And the defense can argue whatever they think might mitigate the harm of those statements. We use statements from pretext phone calls and even phone interviews all the time.
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
The judge and/or jury is free to give the statements over a phone call as much weight as they think they deserve. But they are not anything even remotely related to "proof".
Re: Is It Legal to Record a Police Officer Calling You
Such recordings ARE "evidence," however. Evidence that would be submitted in an attempt to prove some element of the offense, I imagine.
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Not saying they aren't evidence. The OP evidently believed, however, that they constitute proof which cannot be denied. They do not.
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cbg
Not saying they aren't evidence. The OP evidently believed, however, that they constitute proof which cannot be denied. They do not.
True enough.
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I agree that the phone conversation is hard to be admissible in the court of law. I can call you up and say that I promise to do some work for you but without a written contract its hard to enforce anything verbal. I could even promise my friend that if I win the lottery he will get half. But unless its in writing its inadmissible in court.
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travelplus
I agree that the phone conversation is hard to be admissible in the court of law. I can call you up and say that I promise to do some work for you but without a written contract its hard to enforce anything verbal. I could even promise my friend that if I win the lottery he will get half. But unless its in writing its inadmissible in court.
Verbal contracts are enforceable with some exceptions.