No law blocks people from filing with the police.  Obviously, as you've seen throughout the years, many police officers are caught on video doing illegal things, and a lot of time, a nice video is a defense attorney's best friend because that can be used to discredit the police if they're saying something that's not true that was actually captured on video.

While you have the right to film the police and document any illegal conduct, it's crucial to understand that interfering with an officer in the performance of their duty can lead to serious legal consequences. Any form of obstruction or interference could result in your arrest.  So, exercise your rights responsibly and without hindering the police's duties.

Where I have seen problems, though, is when somebody is being arrested, and they decide to film the police during an arrest, and that blocks the police from actually arresting them.  Now, they may get charged with Penal Code 148 - resisting arrest.

Remember, while you can film the police, it's equally important to respect their commands. If you choose to ignore their instructions and interfere with their duties, you could be charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, or other related crimes. So, always be mindful of your actions when filming the police.

But it's certainly okay to film the police even if you're just a witness watching what's going on, seeing somebody else being arrested by the police.  You could certainly film them.  So, you don't have any issues with filming the police.

You're only limited by not interfering with them while they're trying to do their job. A lot of times, the police will go too far and grab people who are trying to film them, claiming they're interfering with their job when they're really not. The police are just angry that the person is filming them or in their way, or they're actually trying to cover up the fact that they're doing something illegal.

Video Evidence Can Be Crucial in a Criminal Case

Video evidence, whether from private citizens or the police's own recordings, has been instrumental in uncovering the truth in many criminal cases. Your footage could be the key to revealing what really happened. So, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to defend your actions, remember that your video evidence can be a powerful tool.

It can also help a defendant show the defense on video and corroborate some of the things the defendant has been arguing, get their version of events across, and show the police did not act appropriately in arresting the particular individual.

So, if you've got a criminal case, you've got video evidence, and you need some help trying to figure out how it plays in. Obviously, you want to set up a meeting with a criminal defense attorney.  I meet with people all the time.

They give me a video and obviously breathe life into it by talking to me about what's in there and what it means to them. I obviously get all the facts, and I can usually give them a pretty good idea of whether the video is going to be helpful, hurtful, or meaningless based on the circumstances that they present.