“They didn’t tell me they were videotaping me!”

Of course, when the police do videotape and or audiotape a person’s confession or anything else for that matter, there is the myth that they cannot do this without the person’s permission. But a police officer can always without permission tape a conversation he has with a person if the purpose of the recording is to obtain evidence of a criminal act.44 A person’s private telephone conversation with the alleged-victim of a crime can also be taped by the police if the police have the alleged-victim’s consent, and the purpose of the taping is to obtain evidence of a criminal act.45

The police can tape an interrogation in the police station or jail cell without the person’s consent.46 They can tape the conversation that takes place in the back of the police car between two or more unsuspecting arrestees,47 detainees, or even people voluntarily sitting there for safety and comfort reasons.48

The basis in truth for this myth probably stems from the belief that judicial approval of a wiretap49 is needed before certain communications can be intercepted and recorded. But in the aforementioned cases, no wiretap is necessary, because in none of the instances did the person have an expectation of privacy in their conversations.50

Apparently, there isn’t even an expectation of privacy during a conversation over the phone between an inmate and his attorney,51 and no one can blame any client or for that matter any attorney for believing that it would be a myth to think the attorney-client privilege would not protect this type of conservation. But apparently, the old saying, “the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places”52 may also be a myth.