dougmc

True.

There have been some cases where people openly recording their public interactions with cops have been arrested for their taping under the wiretap laws. As far as I know, every one of these cases has been thrown out -- either by the original judge or on appeal.

That said, even when you win (which is never certain), such cases tend to be expensive. The ACLU may offer to help -- but they may not, especially if there's something about you or the case that makes it unpalatable (such as you being an absolute jerk, etc.) You probably don't want to become your state's test case for such a thing if you can avoid it.

And yet audio is often as useful as video in such cases. You could disable audio recording, but that reduces the usefulness of your recording for certain situations.

The wise thing to do is probably to learn how your state (and adjacent states, if you go there often) handles such things, and then make an informed decision on what to do and how to handle it. Things to decide include how open you are about your recording, if you'll turn it off when requested to, if you'll disable audio recording or not, what you'll do with the video later, etc.

Also remember that the recording is recording what you do as well. So if you do get hit by somebody, or a cop arrests you for some bogus charge ... it is usually very much in your favor to not yell out insults after close passes, to be civil with the other party and not swear even if they do or they totally deserve it. Just be calm and collected when you deal with them.

That's good advice in dealing with people in general, but it counts even more when everything is recorded -- if you're calm and civil and the other person is a raving lunatic -- that's a good video to have.