Police chief captain wins judgment in officers' suit over video camera installed in locker room

Police chief captain wins judgment in officers' suit over video camera installed in locker room
Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved http://lawprofessors.typepad.com:80/adjunctprofs/

DeVittorio v. Hall, ____F.Supp. 2d___(SDNY Nov. 18, 2008 ) Download 121645-1.wpd is a very interesting case. Police Officer plaintiffs alleged that the police chief and a captain installed a video camera in the police locker room and allegedly used the equipment to listen to private conversations.

Two plaintiffs also claimed retaliation, violating their First Amendment rights, after complaining of the camera. Seeking summary judgment, defendants asserted that the camera never worked and never had audio capability. Discussing Thompson v. Johnson County Community College, Trujillo v. City of Ontario and Avila v. Valentin-Maldonado, the court granted judgment in favor of the defendant. Because there was no reasonable expectation of privacy and no search, plaintiffs did not show their Fourth Amendment rights violated.

Further, plaintiffs' complaints about the camera's installation did not address a matter of public concern. Thus, plaintiffs did not engage in constitutionally protected speech and lacked a claim for violation of their First Amendment rights.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein