Photography and video recordings both protect honest police departments against false accusations and assure communities receive information about instances of official misconduct. When citizens exercise their rights to photography and video recording, they are also bolstering the work of good officers by helping identify a few corrupt ones.
Yet not everyone sees it this way, so some departments will fight recordings, including charging videographers (even ones from news stations) as criminals. Departments and prosecutors who don’t want their misuse of power revealed will further misuse that power to prevent being found out.
Here’s a video that describes the charges against a citizen in Florida for making a lawful recording: