[Peace-discuss] ACLU challenges provision of Illinois' eavesdropping law

[Stuart Levy]

(passed along by Brian Dolinar)

The ACLU is filing suit -- in Federal court -- against Cook County's
prosecutor to stop enforcement of Illinois' eavesdropping law
against people who are recording police actions made in public.

... The ACLU seeks a court declaration and injunction against the
    application of Illinois’ eavesdropping law to allow audio recording
    of police performing their public duties in a public place while
    speaking in a voice audible to the unassisted ear.

    “It is not acceptable that an organization such as the ACLU of
    Illinois is threatened with prison time for conducting legitimate
    investigations into police action in Illinois,” said Adam Schwartz,
    Senior Staff Counsel for the ACLU of Illinois.   “We should not be
    forced to choose between fulfilling our mission and risking prison
    time for staff members.”

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ed Yohnka <eyohnka at aclu-il.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 8:27 AM
Subject: [IMC] FW: ACLU challenges provision of Illinois' eavesdropping law
To: imc at ucimc.org

*Below please find a press release about a lawsuit that we will file this
morning responding to a series of arrests and prosecutions of individuals
who record police engaged in their public duties in public places.   I know
you covered this issue a few years ago when it arose in Champaign.  Please
contact me if you have any questions.    Ed *


*Contact: Edwin C. Yohnka*
*Director of Communications*
*American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois*
*Phone:  *(312) 201-9740, ext. 305
*Cell: *(847) 687-1129
*Email: **eyohnka at aclu-il.org* <eyohnka at aclu-il.org>



*Press Release · Press Release · Press Release · Press Release *

*For Immediate Release*

*August 19, 2010*
*ACLU seeks end to prosecutions for recording public conversations with
police*


*CHICAGO* – Responding to a series of incidents in which individuals in four
counties in Illinois have been charged with violating Illinois’
eavesdropping law for making audio recordings of public conversations with
police, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today asked a federal
court to rule that the First Amendment bans such prosecutions.   The ACLU
lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Chicago, argues that individuals
(and organizations such as the ACLU) may make audio (and video) recordings
of police who are performing their public duties in a public place and
speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard by the unassisted human ear.



The case is of particular import because the law is being used to arrest and
prosecute those who want to monitor police activity in order to deter or
detect any police misconduct.   In Champaign a few years ago, for example, a
group of community activists attempting to document police practices in
predominantly African American neighborhoods were charged with violating the
Illinois eavesdropping law when they filmed and recorded police interactions
with citizens in the public way.   (The charges were dropped only after the
installation of a new states attorney.)    In Chicago, State’s Attorney
Anita Alvarez currently is prosecuting an individual for violating the
eavesdropping statute by recording police officers.


Illinois’ eavesdropping law criminalizes the recording of certain
non-private conversations, one of a small handful of states that does so.
Similar prosecutions have occurred in other states, including Massachusetts
and Maryland.   Yet even as the Illinois law criminalizes civilians who
audio record police, the law allows police to audio record civilians during
traffic stops and in other situations.

The ACLU recently felt the limitation of this law.  The media reported that
Chicago police were conducting random searches of bags and backpacks of
individuals who were passing by Chicago beaches on the pathway that runs
adjacent to the beach and Lake Shore Drive.   When the ACLU investigated, it
could not use widely available audio/video recording devices – like the
smart phones carried by millions of Americans – to document police activity
and conversations, because doing so would risk arrest or prosecution.


“There is a lot of talk about the need for more transparency in government –
we should demand that transparency from the police,” said Harvey Grossman,
Legal Director for the ACLU of Illinois.    “Organizations and individuals
should not be threatened with prosecution and jail time simply for
monitoring the activities of police in public, having conversations in a
public place at normal volume of conversation.”

“Illinois’ eavesdropping law does not permit individuals or groups such as
ours to gather critical information about police activities – information
that we share with our members, policy makers and the general public,”
Grossman added.

The lawsuit was filed against Anita Alvarez as the State’s Attorney of Cook
County.   She is sued in her official capacity as a prosecutor charged with
enforcing the law.   The ACLU of Illinois argues that the law infringes on
the First Amendment right of individuals and organizations to gather
information about the police, to share such information with the public, and
to use such information to petition government for redress of grievances or
policy changes.   The ACLU seeks a court declaration and injunction against
the application of Illinois’ eavesdropping law to allow audio recording of
police performing their public duties in a public place while speaking in a
voice audible to the unassisted ear.


“It is not acceptable that an organization such as the ACLU of Illinois is
threatened with prison time for conducting legitimate investigations into
police action in Illinois,” said Adam Schwartz, Senior Staff Counsel for the
ACLU of Illinois.   “We should not be forced to choose between fulfilling
our mission and risking prison time for staff members.”


“If this law stays in force, it will remain difficult for many citizens in
Illinois to monitor and seek reform of police practices,” added Richard
O’Brien, a lawyer with the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP who is
cooperating with the ACLU on this case.   “It is time to change this law and
let transparency shine into the practices of our law enforcement agencies.”


Assisting Grossman, Schwartz and O’Brien on the case are Linda R. Friedlieb
and Matthew D. Taksin of Sidley Austin LLP and Karen Sheley of the ACLU of
Illinois.

#  #  #

*A copy of the complaint if available at *
http://www.aclu-il.org/featured/2010/Complaint-ACLUvAlvarez.pdf**


*Edwin C. Yohnka*
*Director of Communications and Public Policy*
*American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois*
*312.201.9740, ext. 305*
*eyohnka at aclu-il.org*