Not Illegal to Film Police with Phone

In this digital age where cell phones are ubiquitous and everything is one snap away from being Youtube fodder, it’s only normal to wonder whether it’s legal to film police officers in action. The short answer is yes, you have the right to film or photograph police proceedings. As long as there’s no obvious safety concern, and you’re not tangibly obstructing the officers from doing their job, you can snap away.

As noted by Canadian Privacy Law Blog, an Ontario judge shed some light on this reality in a recent decision. Here are some pertinent passages from the ruling:

In the absence of an overarching and tangible safety concern, such as telling a photographer at a fire scene to back away if there is a danger that the building will collapse on him, telling people not to record these interactions, whether they be a bystander or the person the police are dealing with, is not a lawful exercise of police power.  An officer who conducts himself reasonably has nothing to fear from an audio, video or photographic record of his interaction with the public.

The officer’s powers exist to allow him to protect the public and himself and to enforce the law; they do not extend to controlling the public record of what happened.

Section 129 of the Criminal Code prohibits one from “resisting or willfully obstructing” police officers in the execution of their duty, but this is a far cry from not being allowed to peacefully film from the sidelines!