i've used video as:
- "notes" to file countless informal complaints (generally for things that police can't/won't prosecute - here in NZ there's a decent system for filing informal complaints),
- evidence for filing formal complaints (IIRC, only one of my formal complaints in the last 1-2 years didn't result in a successful prosecution, because the file was "misplaced" by police for a few months),
- once used as evidence in a civil case - i won ONLY because of the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_h0vaPTcEY (full details in the video description)
as for NZ law, essentially there's no expectation of privacy in a public place: if you're in a place legally, it's generally legal to film from that place.
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http://techliberty.org.nz/can-you-ph...n-new-zealand/
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https://www.police.govt.nz/faq/what-...a-public-place
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http://techliberty.org.nz/wp-content...e-re-video.pdf
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http://techliberty.org.nz/wp-content...ing-police.pdf
every now and again, there are stories of NZ cops who don't have a clue... but they tend to involve two ********, one of which is in a police uniform (like most of the first-person YT videos of people "confronting" the police). most of the cops i've encountered here compliment the quality of my videos and/or want to know more about getting a similar setup.