A recent case where a police officer attempted to seize a cell phone by claiming it could be a weapon underscores how cops are now being trained to treat phones as potential guns in an underhanded effort to prevent people from recording police activity.

 

As a result of the numerous legal cases that have proven recording police officers is not a crime, authorities are getting more creative in attempting to stop abuse by law enforcement offices ending up as a viral video on YouTube.

In the clip above, Detective Shannon Todd of the Newark Police Gang Unit approaches a man who is recording a police stop on his cell phone, ordering him to, “put your phone down, put it in your pocket.”

Despite acknowledging that the device is a phone, when the man refuses to follow the unlawful order, Todd remarks, “I need to hold on to it,” before stating, “May I look at it and inspect it to ensure it’s not a firearm.”