SMILE, YOU'RE ON CAMERA
Smile, You're On Camera
PA CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION
By: David J. MacMain, MacMain Connell & Leinhauser, LLC
In this age of body-worn-cameras, security cameras outside of businesses and homes, cell-phones, social media and thousands of news media of all forms vying for the ‘big story’ or a ‘new angle,’ police officers are under a microscope in all they do and say – both while performing their job, and even in their private life. As a former police officer turned lawyer who defends and counsel law enforcement all over the country, and as the proud father of a young police officer, I advise my clients to assume that absolutely nothing you do on the job is a secret from the outside world, and it is likely to be captured in whole or in part by some form of audio and/or video. What’s more, it is not safe to assume that what you do in your private life is private – it often is not. As the news media – both legitimate and fringe – has shown in recent years, there is an insatiable appetite for ‘bad cop’ stories . . . ‘good cop’ stories – not so much. Further, in the crucible of litigation the net is often wide and deep as to what is ‘discoverable’. Courts often afford great latitude to allow plaintiffs (and indirectly the public) to explore the
David J. MacMain is the Managing Partner of MacMain Connell & Leinhauser, LLC in West Chester, Pennsylvania. www.macmainlaw. com. David is a former Pennsylvania State Trooper who has been representing law enforcement agencies and officers for over 30 years. He defends high-profile law enforcement and corrections cases throughout the country and has successfully tried over 150 jury trials. He can be reached at dmacmain@macmainlaw.com or 484-318-7703. David J. MacMain
Defendant officer’s background, public social media, organizations, and cellphones. An early and prominent example of this is the O.J. Simpson criminal trial in which the defense attacked Detective Mark Fuhrman not so much on his efforts in the murder investigation, but on his racist musings as captured on audio tapes. In recent years, the criminal defense bar has offered continuing legal education courses on how to mine nuggets to attack the arresting officer’s credibility from personnel files, social media and the like. Finally, I have seen in the §1983 federal civil rights cases that I defend for police officers all over the country, examples of how bad or questionable behavior by officers – perhaps wholly unrelated to the
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case and issue at hand - can shape and overwhelm the incident and cause embarrassment to the officer and department. This article is intended to cover and prevent the kinds of things that police officers and administrators need to be mindful of and avoid at all costs. VIDEO – THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY Many citizen-police interactions are captured in whole or in part by some kind of video, and in some instances, by multiple sources. These can range from dash-cams, to body-cameras, to cellphones, to business security cameras, to drones. These recording can be ‘good’ and absolve the officer of any wrongdoing and lend support for criminal charges of the
