The Week in Ridiculous Legal News

One of my biggest pet peeves is government hypocrisy. You know the type: you can't own guns but we can, you can't grow marijuana but we can, you can't generate nuclear power but we can. Well, this story out of Pennsylvania really has my gears grinding.

At a routine traffic stop, a police officer noticed that a passenger in the stopped vehicle had a video camera and was taping the interaction between the officer and the driver. The camera was originally off, but when the officer yelled at the driver, the friend thought to himself "maybe this cop isn't following all the rules" and started taping. After the officer took the camera, half a dozen more police officers showed up and arrested the teen for illegal wiretapping. In Pennsylvania, it seems, any recording of another individual without their knowledge is wiretapping.

This raises all sorts of issues with me. First of all, the patrol car has a video camera recording audio and video from every traffic stop. The police can tape you, but you can't tape them. Beyond that, though, I think officers ought to act in a way that suggests that they could be getting taped at any time. It is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to keep the government in check, and tapes of police beatings and other police misconduct often result in a cleaner police force. I'm thinking specifically of a video of an off-duty cop beating a bartender half his size in Chicago a couple months back. Government creating laws that can be used to subvert an honest check of government power is downright wrong.

In other ridiculous legal news, strippers in strip clubs apparently can be too naked. 14 dancers were cited for excessive nudity. In California of all places. Nothing against California or anything, but you would think a lovely liberal paradise would realize that the purpose of a strip club is to, I don't know, see naked people. Haven't the police got better things to do? And what happens to the club after these women (at least, I assume they were women) were released? It gets hit with a possible administrative review by the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. So, was the liquor what made the dancers get naked? Or was it the sweaty singles? California, you confuse me.