Can you hear me now? Better not, if it's an Illinois cop

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/pat-gauen/article_5d80bbdb-b156-5e11-90f0-ec1ebd7f299e.html

A Metro East cop I know called me a while back to share his outrage that people working for a TV station were using a hidden video camera to try to trick police into misbehavior.

Specifically, someone would enter a police station and request a form to make a complaint against an unspecified officer. The visitor would not explain himself, just ask for the form.

The premise was that some officers, or desk clerks, might get caught reacting badly, which I heard did happen sometimes when the trick was used elsewhere.

In Illinois, my friend reminded me, secret audio recording is against the law, and he was glad for it.

Indeed, the state has long made it illegal to record the voice of anyone who has not given permission, even in most public places. If it's a cop or prosecutor you record, the crime becomes a Class 1 felony, the same as for criminal sexual assault or possession of heroin. Only Massachusetts and Oregon have anything like it.

While audio is the issue in the state's law, sound comes with the picture on all the recorders and smart phones I've seen.

Last week, I received a call from a woman in Missouri who had heard about the Illinois law and feared the idea might spread. She was reacting to news that a federal judge had rejected an American Civil Liberties Union challenge to the eavesdropping statute, under which at least six people have been prosecuted, as more cell phones come with recorders.

The ACLU says it's wrong to penalize people for trying to document police abuses. My recent caller said the same thing, and she challenged me to make an argument the other way. I couldn't think of one.

The head of the Chicago police union backs the ban, saying that recording cops might inhibit their work. Given his department's history, a little inhibition may not be such a bad idea.

What, specifically, do the police fear?

Perhaps this.

In 2007, a 20-year-old man with a video camera in his car made an Internet sensation out of a police sergeant from the tiny St. Louis County town of St. George. The sergeant is heard coming emotionally unglued and unleashing a tirade of threats. The cop was fired, and eventually the community disbanded the whole department. (That young man could have gone to prison for up to 15 years if he had done it in Illinois.)

If Missouri had the Illinois law, would we have seen the video of a St. Louis officer pulling a man out of a car in a south side gas station and beating him with a baton? (The officer never reported it; the department learned of it from the video.)

Do you suppose it would have been illegal if someone had recorded Illinois Trooper Matt Mitchell roaring down Interstate 64 in 2007 at 126 mph before he killed two innocent teens? It wasn't a conversation, but what if the microphone caught him yelling or something?

Actually, it might have been legal to record that, but only if you were close family of the girls about to die. You see, the law exempts recording "under reasonable suspicion that another party to the conversation is committing, is about to commit or has committed a criminal offense against the person or a member of his or her immediate household. ..." Mitchell was committing reckless homicide, he later admitted.

The Illinois eavesdropping law liberally exempts cops themselves. Dashboard cameras — hot technology in law enforcement — are perfectly OK. The Illinois State Police prizes such recordings, at least its own, enough to announce that after Mitchell crashed with his camera off, the department would wire its machines to come on with the warning signals.

So, tell me, union president, why are police inhibited by citizens' recordings but not their own?

If you're wondering what uninhibited police work can look like, just log on to YouTube, search under "police beatings" and hold your stomach.

Bottom line: In Illinois, the cop who stops your car is free to record you, but he can ruin your life forever if you record him. If you live there and think this is a bad idea, I suggest you dial up your legislator and say so. Uh, don't tape the call.