Finally, signs of common sense when it comes to the recording of police behavior. Even though more and more jurisdictions are passing restrictions or outright bans on citizens recording the public behavior of police personnel, an Illinois jury of everyday people has spoken loud and clear on the subject.
A former stripper, who secretly recorded two Chicago Police Internal Affairs investigators while filing a sexual harassment complaint against another officer was acquitted on eavesdropping charges. “I’m feeling a lot better now,” a smiling Tiawanda Moore said after a Cook County jury returned the verdict in a little over an hour. The 20-year-old Indiana woman admitted she taped the [internal affairs] officers on her Blackberry in August of last year. But she said she only did it because the investigators were coaxing her to not go forward with her complaint.
Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said the verdict “reflects a repudiation of the eavesdropping law in Illinois. Clearly, the public believes that individuals should be able to record police engaged in their public duties, in a public space in an audible voice.”
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