Can police take your dashcam memory card?
 

Was reading about a case in the States where police officers turned off a driver's dashcam and it got me thinking... If I'm pulled over, and the police officer notices that my dashcam is rolling, can he forcefully take the memory card away?

As with most law/legal questions, the answer is "it depends". It depends on so many different things that such a generic statement like that is never going to get a clear-cut answer. In certain situations the answer could be yes, in others, the answer would be no. I'd go as far as to say that in the overwhelming majority of circumstances, the answer would be no.

*i think* this is how it goes

- if it is direct evidence of a violent crime, they can seize it as evidence (such as a knife found at the scene etc)
- if it is a non violent crime (such as not turning on your signal when you changed lanes) they can not seize your property as evidence. but the prosecution can subpoena you to hand over a copy of the evidence. if at some point you destroy it before the trial they can subsequently charge you for tampering with evidence.

that is just the jist of it as far as i know. i read up with that when i got my gopro for when i ride around.

dont assume im right though

The bottom line here is that, no, he can't ask you to turn off your dashcam just because he doesn't want to be recorded while he verbally abuses you or w/e.

But in certain cases he can ask for the SD-Card.

That's what I am understanding, based on the above replies.