Cop ‘buffer zone’?

As is often said of the military establishment, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans seems to be fighting yesterday’s war — or at the very least yesterday’s technology.

A recent incident where bystanders preferred to videotape struggling cops rather than help out has Evans calling for legislation to regulate how, when and from what distance private citizens can videotape cops — a kind of police “buffer zone,” if you will.

First, any such effort is bound to run afoul of the First Amendment. In fact, a case brought by Allston attorney Simon Glik, who was charged with felony wiretapping for filming the arrest of a man on Boston Common and successfully appealed in federal court, helps to prove that point. Glik ended up with a $170,000 settlement from the city.

Clearly the police over-charged in that case. But they still have the option of charging anyone genuinely impeding police work with obstruction. There are plenty of laws already on the books designed to allow the police to safely do their jobs and protect public safety at the same time.

But any legislative efforts to curb the use of cameras by private citizens of police in action (or possibly in inaction) will always be one step behind the current technology. Does Evans really want to enforce a physical “buffer zone” when a good (and small) zoom lens can be used from across the street and still catch every freckle on his face?

And let’s face it, with, say, a new Go-Pro, it’s likely a police officer wouldn’t even know he or she is being photographed. As for that old stand-by of confiscating a camera as “evidence,” especially a cellphone camera, well there’s an app (or two) to combat that. Several are available to livestream encounters. The American Civil Liberties Union in several states is offering an app that allows citizens to upload their footage immediately to local affiliates.

Boston Police have used available camera footage when it suits their need to calm a jittery community. But such transparency isn’t a one-way street. The technology is there for citizens as well and no law will change that.