Woman Jailed for Recording Traffic Stop on Her Cell Phone Plans to SueMelissa Melton Thirty three-year-old Brandy Berning was reportedly pulled over by Lt. William OBrien for driving in the HOV lane, and as he approached her car, she decided to hit record on her cell phone. She recorded about 15 seconds of the conversation before informing Lt. OBrien what she was doing. His response? The officer told her she had committed a felony and demanded she hand over her phone. She refused. Four minutes worth of arguing later, and Berning was arrested for it. CBS Miami also reports that, at one point during the altercation, OBrien reached into Bernings car and grabbed and sprained her wrist. Although Florida requires that all parties consent to being recorded, third parties are legally allowed to record police officers on duty. Barry Butin with the Broward American Civil Liberties Union told the paper theres was good chance that the law will be on Bernings side. Finding theyre liable for what they did, using what we think was excessive force just because she was recording him on her phone, that would drive home the point that police officers cant do this, said Eric Rudenberg, one of Bernings attorneys told the paper. (source) In a time when our nations police forces are more militarized and weaponized than ever when 90 percent of all U.S. cities of 50,000 people or more have a SWAT unit with some 40,000 SWAT raids conducted every year, people (and their dogs) are accidentally killed in no-knock warrants being served by said teams on the wrong house (many times for non-violent drug offenses), and stats show that 90 percent of all SWAT call-outs end with at least one shot being fired and it seems that even when cops suffocate or beat a mentally ill man to death they dont get punished for it How police officers can continue to operate under the false assumption they can wield so much power over people they are meant to protect and serve without any accountability is one of 100 reasons that secure Americas position as an Orwellian police state. When cops are held accountable, by the way, studies show excessive use of force goes way down. Officers in Rialto, California have been participating in a study where the officers wear cameras while on duty so everything is taped. In the first year alone, complaints filed against Rialto officers dropped a whopping 88%, and their use of force dropped 60%. As for the two-party recording laws or tossing wiretapping charges on people who film or record police, this commenter in the CBS Miami story made a very interesting point: 