The ACLU of Connecticut is suing state police for fabricating retaliatory criminal charges against a protester after troopers were recorded discussing how to trump up charges against him. In what seems like an unlikely stroke of cosmic karma, the recording came about after a camera belonging to the protester, Michael Picard, was illegally seized by a trooper who didn’t know that it was recording and carried it back to his patrol car, where it then captured the troopers’ plotting. Says the ACLU.

Source: aclu.org

Forging evidence is -sadly- not a new thing. What is new, that we live in a more and more transparent age where I dare to say more and more things come to light. Secrets that would have no one ever dared to go public, e-mails, literal conspiracies.

In the recent months countless videos emerged showing policemen abusing their power, even with deadly results. I think now, when everyone walks with a HD camera in his/her pocket, everyone should pay more attention to what is being said or done in public… or even in private.

Police and law enforcement is deeply involved and being an especially sensitive area they should take better care of what’s going on in front of AND behind lens. I’m not naive, I know that even in everyday operation there are secrets that should remain secrets despite all cameras are watching. But just like companies train their employees on security awareness to avoid disclosure of highly sensitive or valuable information police officers should be trained to find the thin line between operational efficiency and respecting people’s constitutional rights while running video and audio recording.