Des Moines, IA — For years now, the Free Thought Project has been reporting on and participating in the act of filming the police. Many of these folks don’t just film arrests and police stops, but they take to filming police departments to see how they react to legal behavior. These folks take to public spaces and legally begin filming to see what the police response will be. The practice of legally filming public spaces to report on the police response is known as a “First Amendment Audit.”
While TFTP has reported on multiple instances in which good cops actually uphold their oaths to the Constitution and protect the citizens’ right to film in public, the majority of them react by showing their ignorance of the law.
As the co-founder of TFTP, Jason Bassler pointed out years ago,
More often than not the officers demonstrate they are more concerned with intimidation, dominance and subservience than knowing or upholding the law. Because many of them react so poorly while highlighting the lack of understanding they have for their job, the videos go mega viral garnering millions of views. The virility in turn creates incentive for more people to pick up the camera and “audit” police in their city and in the slightest way helps push back against the ever-increasing police state.
One particularly egregious case of police failing to uphold their oaths to the Constitution came out of Des Moines, Iowa, and was shared with TFTP in 2019. Now, 3 years later, it is finally getting settled as the taxpayers of Des Moines get held responsible for the actions of several bullies with badges.
Daniel Robbins – the gentleman in the video – had committed no crime, was polite, and was acting entirely within the constraints of the Constitution, yet he was bullied, detained, harassed, his rights violated, and had his equipment stolen.
The taxpayers of Des Moines are now being forced to pay $125,000 for the actions of their officers.
