Lifetime probationer may record police

Filed 1d ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: M.O. Stevens · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

An Arizona appeals court partially vacated a modified probation condition that barred a lifetime probationer from video-recording interactions with probation officers while still allowing audio recording.

The probationer, released in 2015 after five years for 'dangerous crimes against children,' had challenged the restriction as unconstitutional.

The court found the state never explained how banning video specifically, while permitting audio of the same interactions, actually improved officer safety, and ruled the condition violated both the Arizona Constitution and the First Amendment.

The video-recording ban was vacated; the underlying case did not disturb the rest of his probation terms.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A rule that lets you record the sound of an interaction but not the picture was never really about safety — it was about not being seen. The court noticed the inconsistency the state apparently hoped no one would ask about.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Magic Escape Room · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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