Can I take a picture of Police Making an Arrest?
For certain the answer is yes. The issue is what will the police officers do to you once they see you taking the picture, and what remedy you have against the police? There are two separate actions the police can take that may be actionable. If they assault you and/or break your camera. If they can arrest you for something.
If the police assault you, you have a claim for excessive force against the officers.
If the police arrest you, you have a claim for malicious prosecution.
In either instance, you may have a Monell Claim, that the police are failing to train their officers that people can photograph them arresting people.
I would guess the most common claim for these cases is some type of malicious prosecution where the plaintiff is being charged with disorderly conduct and winds up beating the case. The problem is that for a disorderly conduct only, the case is probably not worth much money. However, an Order from a judge directing the police to better train the officers on photographs and a cash award would be a very good outcome.
