FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A change to Fort Wayne’s city policies and procedures will require employees to get written permission to record a conversation with another employee.
Indiana is a one-party consent state, meaning a person can record a conversation they are having with another person without the other person knowing.
“Whether it’s ethical is another question, but it is legal,” Attorney Mark GiaQuinta said.
GiaQuinta said while the city’s new policy may go against state law, an employer can make its own rules.
Sort of like, you have the right to carry a gun, but your employer has the right to say, "Yes, but not here."
I suspect most people don't know the laws on recording vary state by state and that Indiana is a one-party consent state. You can carry a recording device around with you all day long and keep a record of every conversation you have. Most people, I think, don't even worry about simple sound recordings any more. It's the ubiquitousness of cameras -- sound and pictures -- that we're all starting to freak out over.
The cell phone video of a woman verbally attacking a Fort Wayne police officer has gone viral and now has about 300,000 hits in less than a week. Wednesday, the officer involved, Officer Stephen Ealing sat down with NewsChannel 15 and discussed what happened Sunday morning.
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Officer Ealing said officers are often recorded with cell phone video at scenes.
“Thank you, because with out him filming me, then it would just be my side of the story versus everyone else’s side of the story,” said Ealing, “They weren’t doing anything to help the situation so I thank him for video taping that for me. It saves me a lot of work.”
Ealing said after leaving the scene Sunday, he knew that it was going to be posted online but he never would have expected this kind of attention.
Police elsewhere are tying to criminalize the videoing of their activities. It's nice to see here a recognition that the tapes can be beneficial both to the police and those they encounter.
