Author: PoP Sponsor (a)

By Virginia criminal defense lawyer Steve Duckett, with Price Benowitz, LLP.

Body cameras have entered the public consciousness over the last two years due to the high-profile killings of unarmed black men across the United States.

In many of those instances, it was initially the word of the officer against the word of eyewitnesses. Law enforcement and members of the public have identified the need for consistent reporting of civilian interaction with members of law enforcement.

With today’s wireless connectivity and technology, small, wearable cameras that can constantly upload and store data are available to provide contemporaneous documentary evidence of these interactions.

“Body cameras are incredible tools that all law enforcement should take advantage of,” said Steve Duckett, a Manassas criminal law attorney. “They provide in-the-moment documentation of police interaction with the public, suspects, and arrestees. This evidence is crucial for not only law enforcement, but for the public and defense attorneys as well. Additionally, the cameras encourage accountability and make officers more aware of how they interact with the public.”

The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) has initiated a pilot program to study the benefits of department-wide body cameras and will work with American University researchers to provide a report on those benefits.

The goal of the pilot program is to determine whether investment in body cameras across the department will provide the type of benefits to justify incurring the roughly $4 million per year necessary to maintain the program.

However, any program like this has drawbacks, and one of the most commonly cited drawbacks is how police records of interactions will be used, and what sort of affect that will have on privacy. Duckett thinks that the proper limitations on when the cameras will record and when the evidence can be used are being discussed in relation to this pilot program. “Having reviewed the policy adopted by the FCPD, I think they are taking the right steps to ensure that individual privacy rights are protected,” Duckett said.

The FCPD policy, which was drafted with input from both law enforcement and public stakeholders, indicates that body cameras should be turned off upon the request of citizens when responding to a call at someone’s home, or when someone is reporting a crime and desires anonymity. Additionally, cameras should be turned off when in court, hospitals, or mental health facilities, unless the officer suspects that the use of force may be necessary.

The presence of cameras may make people uncomfortable about interacting with law enforcement. The important thing to remember is that those cameras are there to protect all parties, and as long as the proper practices are in place to restrict when those cameras are on and when their recordings can be introduced as evidence, they should add positively to the interactions of police and the public.

Previous Image 1/5 Next Image

Indulge in some self-care: Washington Improv Theater’s Summer Escape provides relief from 100% humidity and grueling daily headlines. Make WIT part of your night out on 14th Street with our series of improvised shows running through August 5.

Use the code POPVILLE to get two tickets for just $25. What’s in store?

• Your audience suggestion could end the world in Apocalypse How?, a new show by WIT’s hit musical improv ensemble iMusical.
• Inspired by the movie School of Rock, WIT debuts the improvised rock comedy Heavy Rotation where the actors play live instruments.
• A two-night-only guest! Karaoke Storytellers, currently running at Chicago’s iO theater, is the brainchild of D.C. native Connor Gorman. On July 27 and 28, experience a show that blends improvisation and storytelling with full-throttle karaoke!
• The razor-sharp all-female cast of WIT company ensemble Hellcat base their shows off of cringe-worthy readings by special guests. From long-lost AIM conversations to teenage journal entries to angst-ridden poetry, come revel in the awkwardness, shame and hilarity.

Summer Escape can save you from your daily summer struggles with pesky tour groups, pit stains and Metro delays. Get out of your world and step into ours.

Want to escape even further into improv? You can always sign up for a free two-hour workshop or one of our life-changing eight-week classes (no experience required).

By Washington D.C. criminal defense attorney Glenn Ivey with Price Benowitz, LLP.

One of the biggest challenges to anyone seeking a new job or to improve their lot in life is the existence of a criminal record. Most employers and landlords conduct criminal background checks prior to hiring individuals or entering into leases, and the existence of a criminal record can severely limit both employment and housing opportunities.

The District of Columbia is proposing more opportunities for individuals to have their records of certain non-violent misdemeanors and felonies expunged, as well as proposing that other records be eligible to be sealed or even permanently deleted.

The changes, which are supported by a majority of the city’s council members and which take the form of two separate proposals, have supporters and detractors.

Supporters say, as noted above, that many criminal convictions cause unnecessary long-term damage to the offenders and their ability to move forward with their lives. Additionally, certain stigmas associated with charges — such as prostitution — can limit an individual’s ability to reintegrate into society.

However, news outlets — including The Washington Post — and other open government and press groups, oppose this legislation.

The reason, these groups argue, is that allowing the press to have access to the full criminal background of individuals ensure that proper reporting can be done and that the histories and pasts of individuals are available for public review in the event an individual seeks public office.

Victim advocates and attorneys also oppose these changes, arguing that the previous charges and convictions of individuals are necessary in establishing a record of violence in order to protect victims of spousal or child abuse.

“There are most certainly situations where expungements or deletion of records are inappropriate,” said Glenn Ivey, a D.C. Expungement Attorney with the law firm of Price Benowitz, LLP. However, he continued, “increasing the number of opportunities for reasonable expungement can greatly improve an individual’s ability to fully rehabilitate and contribute to society.”

Under current law, an individual’s criminal record can be sealed or expunged if it can be proved that the individual was innocent of the crime of which they were convicted, or if the crime committed is eligible for record sealing — mostly low-level misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes for which there was no injured individual.

However, there are many other requirements that must be satisfied before an individual is eligible to request that their record be sealed, and hiring a qualified attorney is a person’s best bet for having their record sealed.

By Henrico County criminal defense attorney Nicholas Braswell with Price Benowitz, LLP.

States across the Union are looking at ways to improve the services they provide while lowering the cost to provide those services.

Whether it is property mapping, emergency response, disaster services, or police pursuit, states are attempting to identify any avenues where technology may be underutilized.

Virginia, along with California, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Montana and Utah, have identified drones (small, unmanned aerial vehicles) as a method for improving and delivering services and have issued a national request for proposals for pricing out the use of drones in delivery of these services.

At the initial pre-proposal meeting, over 50 drone operators were in attendance.

“Drones have proven to be viable vehicles in numerous areas and, as their uses continue to grow, so do the privacy concerns that come along with them,” said Nicholas Braswell, a Virginia Criminal Surveillance Attorney with the law firm of Price Benowitz, LLP.

One of the primary concerns related to the use of drones is the possibility that their use may violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

This portion of the Constitution limits the manner in which law enforcement may surveil you or your home and the case law surrounding it has come to set forth the requirements that must be met before a search warrant will be issued allowing other types of surveillance.

Drones, due to their small size and nearly noiseless operation, can present many opportunities for surreptitious observation by their operators. The concern held by many is that the introduction of drones into law enforcement will increase the number of unconstitutional searches and seizures and lead to charges and arrests that have to be challenged as unconstitutional to be overturned.

It is up to law enforcement to abide by the Constitution and its requirements, and each individual department will be responsible for ensuring the proper operation of its drone or drones.

Drones have many obvious benefits: low-cost mapping, surveying of disaster areas that are unreachable by vehicle, search and rescue operations. However, the risk that use of these aircraft may violate constitutional rights is real and it is serious.

Law enforcement agencies will have to be vigilant regarding their use, and citizens will have to vigilant that technology creep does not end up making them numb to drones floating outside their windows.

By Washington, D.C. criminal defense attorney Shawn Sukumar with Price Benowitz, LLP.

Anyone that has turned on the nightly news in the last year has likely heard the word “Bitcoin,” and probably in the context of the incredible increase in value it was experiencing. For many individuals, this may have been the first they had heard of cryptocurrency. It is unlikely to be the last.

Cryptocurrency is the term used to describe any form of currency that only exists in digital form, and that uses algorithms to generate units of the currency and encryption to track and document transactions conducted using the currency.

It is not issued by any government or central bank, meaning that its value is most analogous to equities like stock in a corporation. The value of a unit of cryptocurrency is, generally speaking, based on what a buyer is willing to pay for one unit, much like a share of stock.

Currencies issued by central banks or governments have a set value and that value is backed by the government. This is what is known as “fiat currency”.

“The concepts underlying what constitutes a security, a public offering, a trading platform, and myriad other securities concepts are complex and very often fact specific,” said Shawn Sukumar, a D.C. fraud lawyer with the law firm of Price Benowitz, LLP, in Washington, D.C. “Generally, due to the manner in which cryptocurrency is traded however, it falls under the purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States.”

The SEC has several mandates, including investor protection and oversight of the numerous security and commodity markets operating in the United States. Fulfilling these mandates requires the SEC to take steps to evaluate new and developing markets, and to try and intervene when securities or markets or the actors in those areas act in a manner contrary to the public interest.

Bitcoin’s meteoric rise led to a rush to create the next big cryptocurrency, and like all situations where investors are ready to hand over money to be part of the next boom, opportunities arise for criminals to attempt to defraud unsuspecting individuals.

The SEC has recognized this possibility and has taken steps to inform consumers about the possibility of fraud. Specifically, the purely digital nature of the cryptocurrency coupled with the fact that it is generated through an algorithm makes validation of new or emerging cryptocurrencies incredibly difficult.

Bad actors, however, have an uncanny ability to create a website and an app and then push valueless or even nonexistent cryptocurrency on naïve consumers, and then disappear after they receive funds but before they can be identified.

The SEC encourages investors to ask questions of themselves, the platform and the investment itself prior to beginning, including encouraging investors to see if the platform in question is registered with the SEC, whether the platform holds user assets, what sort of protections are provided for user information as well as any assets the platform may hold, and how prices are set on the platform, among other questions.

Investors that take the time to research prior to investment will undoubtedly save themselves the stress of uncertainty at a later date, even if they are unable to save themselves the stress of a fluctuating investment.