#FILMING IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS INSIDE POST OFFICE LICENSE#

Unlike Sovereign Citizens, the average auditor drives a car bearing government-issued license plates, and acknowledges the rule of law. So here are seven things you should know about First Amendment audits and the people behind the cameras. Unfortunately, American law enforcement is responding to the auditor movement very inconsistently, often out of confusion and a misunderstanding of the governing law. If an auditor has a thousand or so active followers who donate even occasionally, the auditor no longer needs a day job. this month, but I should be able to double that next time. The more successful auditors have banners on their social media channels urging viewers to donate and “Help keep Joe Auditor on the road!” Usually visible during any livestream broadcast is the scrolling list of fans literally from around the world, thanking the auditor for the entertaining content, with comments like, “Hey, it’s Sean from Down Under. How do they pay for these trips? How do beginner auditors afford to take off time from work to pursue this new hobby? The answer is GoFundMe and other crowd funding accounts where viewers and followers make donations.

#FILMING IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS INSIDE POST OFFICE PROFESSIONAL#

Over the past two years auditors have broadened their professional network to where the more seasoned auditors fly around the country helping fledgling auditors get started. The number of active auditors, many with their own YouTube channels, is steadily increasing. In reality, it’s usually a little of both. Some will argue the people behind the cameras-who call themselves “First Amendment auditors”-are simply testing the resolve of the police to respect their right to film “whatever they can see from a public space.” Others will argue these auditors are deliberately “baiting” officers, trying to provoke them into overreaction. They are standing on public sidewalks next to the driveways where officers come and go in their personal vehicles, filming faces and license plates. They are recording the exteriors, and sometimes the interiors, of police buildings and other municipal infrastructure. Today, some of the same people who started out filming police at traffic stops and during other public operations are now bringing their cameras to our police facilities. Third Circuit stated that the right “goes beyond protection of the press,” as the First Amendment also “protects the public’s right of access to information about their officials’ public activities.” City of Philadelphia upholding the public’s right to film the police, the U.S.

#FILMING IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS INSIDE POST OFFICE FREE#

The First Amendment guarantees, in addition to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and freedom of the press. Circuit Courts of Appeals to have squarely confronted the issue-the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits-have ruled the right to film police officers in public exists. We were also educated by decision after decision from federal appeals courts recognizing that filming the police in public is constitutionally protected activity under the First Amendment.

This is because those of us working in the field have become increasingly accustomed to being filmed while on traffic stops or being filmed from public sidewalks or adjoining yards while responding to a call. It took a while but over a period of years such videos have pretty much dried up. In these videos, the officers would often order the people filming them to stop, and/or they would awkwardly try to cover their faces with one hand, all the while telling the subjects doing the filming, “I haven’t given you permission to record me.” You have probably watched some of the first generation of videos that popped up on social media sites and on YouTube showing officers dealing with people using smartphones to film them.

Citizen Video Audits: Know Their Rights…And Yours

Filming in federal buildings inside post office