Listening devices have been installed in areas around the Nashville District Attorney’s office, according to news reports. The revelations come as similar recording devices are popping up in other government buildings across the country in what appears to be a troubling trend of citizen monitoring.
District Attorney Glenn Funk’s team did not dispute the findings of a NewsChannel 5 investigation, the news outlet reported. Instead, DA officials insisted the devices — capable of picking up conversations of employees and visitors without prior warning — are a necessary part of office security. The District Attorney’s office added that “there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for conversations in public places.”
Such arguments may not hold up to federal wiretapping laws, privacy experts say.
“A person who tries to record something privately, no matter what the motivation is, is violating the law,” veteran Nashville attorney Gary Blackburn, a former federal prosecutor who has litigated cases involving the wiretapping laws, told NewsChannel 5.
This discovery comes after months of complaints from insiders at the Nashville DA’s Office about security cameras also capable of secretly picking up conversations of people visiting the office, as well as employees — along with allegations of one official inside the office who routinely listens to such chatter, the publication reported.
Surreptitious recording in government buildings appears to be a growing national concern.
This week, The Star News Network released documents showing audio recording devices installed at City Hall in Green Bay, WI. As in the Nashville case, citizens, employees, even City Council members were unaware the recording equipment had been installed — in the hallways outside the City Council chamber, the mayor’s office and the city clerk’s office.
Alderman Chris Wery, who represents Green Bay’s 8th District, described the secret recordings as the kind of “Big Brother stuff” found in a George Orwell novel.
“This is an astonishing affront to people’s privacy rights,” Wery told The Star in an interview Tuesday afternoon, hours before the council discussed the recording devices.
Green Bay City officials claimed they added the microphones after city staff encountered threatening interactions. The recorded conversations are being monitored by the police department.
“It is reprehensible, unethical and almost certainly illegal that the Mayor has persisted in spying on private conversations at City Hall in clear violation of state statute,” said State Sen. Andre Jacque, a Green Bay-area Republican.
Wisconsin, like Tennessee, is a one-party consent state, meaning it is a crime for anyone to intentionally intercept a wire, oral or “electronic communication” to overhear or record a phone call or conversation unless at least one party consents to the conversation. In the case of Green Bay City Hall and the Nashville District Attorney’s office, it doesn’t appear that any of the individuals involved in an audio-captured conversation are aware they have been recorded.
The American Civil Liberties Union has for years fought against such tactics. ACLU of Tennessee did not return a request for comment.
Rhode Island’s ACLU did get involved after learning that a system recording audio and video in the East Providence City Clerk’s office could be illegally capturing some conversations of unaware visitors. In the Rhode Island case, the city at least posted signs letting the public know that there were audio monitoring devices on the premises.
East Providence Mayor Roberto L. DaSilva also argued that the expectation of privacy is extremely low in a public building.
According to NewsChannel 5, one of the cameras at the District Attorney’s office is located on the fourth floor where the Davidson County grand jury meets, meaning conversations of witnesses, defense attorneys, even grand jurors themselves could also be intercepted as they wait for an elevator.
Funk did not return a call from The Star seeking comment.
In a written statement, the DA’s office told NewsChannel 5: “Security for law enforcement office[s] is imperative.”
“The District Attorney’s Office is located in a building open to the public. The law is clear that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for conversations in public places.”
Jonathan Cooper, past president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, disagreed with that interpretation. He told the TV station the secret installation of the recording devices is a “betrayal of trust.”
“It’s very common for defense lawyers to go with associates or co-counsel or investigators or sometimes even with clients,” Cooper said. “If there is the perception that those conversations that are occurring in the common areas could be monitored, that is going to have a very chilling effect.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Background Photo “Nashville City Hall” by Luckiewiki. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Violating laws come with associated criminal charges and fines, incarceration. Being an elected official does not provide any defense, people need to be investigated prosecuted fined and imprisoned. People who are placed in a position of authority and trust, should be dealt with much more harshly than the average citizen.
ROFLMAO, I didn’t even need to check to see his political affiliation. Of course he is a Democrat. They do not believe in Freedom of Speech, nor believe they have to follow bugging and wiretapping laws. They are in a position now to use anything they gained from those listening devices as a political weapon against anyone that doesn’t agree with him or his party.
Only one solution here; start locking up these commie leftists. Smarten up America.
Is this a trend nationwide??
Just trash being trash.