Massachusetts Woman Records Her Arrest With Cell Phone and Arrested for Illegal Wiretapping

by John D. Ioakimidis, Esq,

In an interesting story, a Massachusetts woman was arrested by the police and charged with illegal wiretapping after she was caught secretly recording her own arrest. Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to record the police unless if it’s in a public place and only if the police know of the recording.  In this case the police were called to a building for a tenant who was loud and causing a disturbance. The police encountered this woman and arrested her. As they were arresting her they discovered that she had placed her phone in her purse and it was recording the arrest.  After the cell phone was discovered the woman admitted that she placed it in her purse to record her arrest.  In 2011 a court in Massachusetts who filmed someone else’s arrest in public had her constitutional rights violated because it was obvious to the police that they were being filmed.

Before you criticize Massachusetts, Illinois had a similar law on the books until March 20, 2014, when the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the law as being unconstitutional.

James Dimeas is an award winning Chicago criminal defense attorney and author with more than 23 years of experience aggressively representing his clients against criminal charges.  If you are facing criminal charges in Illinois, contact me in Chicago (312-229-5500), DuPage and Kane (630-504-2096) or Lake (847-696-6458) for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your legal options.

Additional Resources:

720 ILCS 5/14-2, Illinois Eavesdropping Statute.

Massachusetts Woman Charged With Recording Arrest, WCVB.com, May 11, 2014.

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