Oversight board urges ACPD to remind officers of public's right to record and to adopt ID verification procedures

The Arlington Civilian Oversight Board unanimously adopted a recommendation that ACPD remind and educate officers about the public’s First Amendment right to record officers while they perform public duties, citing policy 574.02. The recommendation stemmed from a prior case in which an officer seized and deleted a bystander's phone video in the Clarendon bar area.

“Given the fundamental nature of the right at issue, we recommend that ACPD take steps to ensure that every ACPD officer is reminded of or educated about the public’s First Amendment right to record and photograph officers in the public discharge of their duties as outlined in policy 574-02,” co-investigation lead Dave read during the meeting.

The board also approved a second recommendation arising from CMP 060: require some form of procedural regularity or verification—such as supervisory review or sign-off—when an officer’s identification is used in an affidavit supporting an arrest warrant. Board members emphasized the proposal does not prescribe a single solution but asked ACPD to convene a short work group of practitioners and supervisors to define a practical verification step.

Members noted ACPD already conducts various trainings and domain-specific briefings for areas such as Clarendon and Crystal City, but they stressed that a simple, consistent verification step before swearing an affidavit could prevent misidentifications that lead to arrest. The board voted to include both recommendations in the next public case report and to follow up with ACPD on implementation.