Originally Posted by
smasha
i've used video as:
- "notes" to file countless informal complaints (generally for things that police can't/won't prosecute - here in NZ there's a decent system for filing informal complaints),
- evidence for filing formal complaints (IIRC, only one of my formal complaints in the last 1-2 years didn't result in a successful prosecution, because the file was "misplaced" by police for a few months),
- once used as evidence in a civil case - i won ONLY because of the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_h0vaPTcEY (full details in the video description)
as for NZ law, essentially there's no expectation of privacy in a public place: if you're in a place legally, it's generally legal to film from that place.
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http://techliberty.org.nz/can-you-ph...n-new-zealand/
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https://www.police.govt.nz/faq/what-...a-public-place
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http://techliberty.org.nz/wp-content...e-re-video.pdf
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http://techliberty.org.nz/wp-content...ing-police.pdf
every now and again, there are stories of NZ cops who don't have a clue... but they tend to involve two ********, one of which is in a police uniform (like most of the first-person YT videos of people "confronting" the police). most of the cops i've encountered here compliment the quality of my videos and/or want to know more about getting a similar setup.
This seems like a perfect example of why one would want the video with very little downside (equipment seems pretty affordable now and I don't mind having my riding on tape). How do folks who've dealt with this before go about submitting complaints if no traffic ticket is issued or the police are not already involved? I have seen some mentions of reaching out to fleet operators with evidence that identifies their drivers. I'll keep that in mind, but what I am most interested in is actually getting through to the authorities if at all possible.
After the incident I had with the left-turning car, I was waiting for the police to show up, when a bystander accused me of trying to extort insurance money. That could not be further from the truth. What I want the most is to create palpable negative consequences for drivers behaving in the ways we know is both illegal and damaging. Being able to proactively follow-up on video evidence, even without drivers' knowledge could be helpful.