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Boston, MA The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a major ruling this week, guaranteeing the right of citizens to videotape on duty police officers under the First Amendment. The original case was filed by a Boston based attorney who was arrested for videotaping police officers. However, the case addresses issues in numerous communities in the First Circuit where local police have arrested citizens for videotaping, especially New Hampshire where cases in Weare, Nashua, Manchester, Portsmouth and Keene have led to three proposed bills to alter the state law and protect the citizens. In the ruling, the court stated, "Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting ‘the free discussion of governmental affairs’" and "“a citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public place is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”[1]
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