Police may try & confiscate your GoPro to gather evidence against your riding buddies

[Afrobaron]

So for the LEOs in our midst.

From the original news article should this have been approached in the manner I am about to describe.

Since it seems the LEO had no reason to pull over the biker for an offense, he should have pulled the biker and told him that he was not being pulled for a crime however he was informing the person that his camera would be sought by police for the footage it contained. Then take all of the rider's pertinent information for records to ID him and issue the subpoena.
At this point if the rider/camera owner deleted footage or never responded to the court order then they could issue an arrest warrant for obstruction of justice (or similar).

From what I can tell in the news article the officer had no legal reason to pull the rider except to get the footage; especially since he went back to his car for a few minutes before coming back with the obscured plate charge (which i though was mainly a "fix it" ticket).

[Aaron]

So for the LEOs in our midst.

From the original news article should this have been approached in the manner I am about to describe.

Since it seems the LEO had no reason to pull over the biker for an offense, he should have pulled the biker and told him that he was not being pulled for a crime however he was informing the person that his camera would be sought by police for the footage it contained. Then take all of the rider's pertinent information for records to ID him and issue the subpoena.
At this point if the rider/camera owner deleted footage or never responded to the court order then they could issue an arrest warrant for obstruction of justice (or similar).

From what I can tell in the news article the officer had no legal reason to pull the rider except to get the footage; especially since he went back to his car for a few minutes before coming back with the obscured plate charge (which i though was mainly a "fix it" ticket).

It's up to the Officer whether he wants to inform you why you're being stopped or not. I usually do, but there have been plenty of times I haven't. Usually I will when it's for a traffic offense, but will not if it's because the stop is in relation to a crime.

I probably would've followed the same procedure you outlined, however I can reasonably see how the Officer may want the camera right then and there. If this was the Dallas incident, the earlier crime was the bikers interfering with the Officers. It's reasonable to believe that this biker was with the others, and may try to destroy or hide footage so as to protect himself and his friends.

Colorado does not have "fix-it" tickets, but even if we did its still a traffic infraction the Officer can detain and cite you for. Just like a cracked windshield or a white light projecting to the rear of the vehicle.

[Ghost]

Colorado does not have "fix-it" tickets, but even if we did its still a traffic infraction the Officer can detain and cite you for. Just like a cracked windshield or a white light projecting to the rear of the vehicle.

Off-topic, but I really wish CO had vehicle inspections, I'm sick of being on the bike behind assholes with 0 to 1 functional brake light.

[bluedogok]

Off-topic, but I really wish CO had vehicle inspections, I'm sick of being on the bike behind assholes with 0 to 1 functional brake light.

We had yearly inspections in Texas and it didn't seem to help that situation at all, the only time most people would get them fixed is if they failed inspection or was pulled over for it. Most of the inspections that I went through in Oklahoma (before they got rid of it in 2001) and in Texas were very minimal at best.