To: The Massachusetts State House, The Massachusetts State Senate, and Governor Charlie Baker

Tell Beacon Hill: It should always be legal to film the police

In the state of Massachusetts, it is illegal to videotape police officers "secretly," or without making it abundantly clear that you are filming them. This is an infringement of our right to film police officers and a potential impediment to making sure our police officers are held responsible for their actions.

Why is this important?

At a time when more and more Americans are becoming aware of gross misuses of police power, filming the police, especially secretly, is one of the few ways to bring to light instances of police brutality. In order to have a state where officers are held accountable, it must be legal to film on-duty officers under any and all circumstances. Read an editorial about it in the Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2016/07/07/epoliceshooting/v47TmG9fKMdeZylfeGsyIL/story.html#comments