Recording Law for Police & Civil Rights in Arkansas

In Arkansas, you can record any conversation you take part in without telling the other person. The law is Ark. Code Ann. § 5-60-120, which states it is unlawful to intercept and record a "wire, landline, oral, telephonic, or wireless communication" unless you are part of the conversation or one party has given consent. The statute is location-neutral and contains no privacy or confidentiality threshold; it applies the same one-party-consent rule whether the conversation occurs in person, over the phone, or electronically. The Arkansas Supreme Court has applied this rule directly to recorded phone calls without screening for an expectation of privacy. In Elliott v. State, 335 Ark. 387 (1998), the court held that a secretly recorded call was admissible despite violating § 5-60-120, because the exclusionary rule does not apply to private individuals. Similarly, in Lewis v. State, 336 Ark. 469 (1999), the court applied the one-party-consent rule directly without any privacy-expectation gate, and in King v. State, 2019 Ark. 114 (2019), the court again enforced the statute’s bright-line rule while addressing evidentiary admissibility. The one-party consent rule applies regardless of whether the conversation is loud or happens in public, and there is no public-place carve-out. Unlike states with a reasonable-expectation-of-privacy threshold (e.g., California or Washington), Arkansas imposes no such gate; a loud or clearly public exchange does not automatically fall outside the statute’s coverage.

If your device records only video with no audio, Arkansas’ audio-recording law does not apply. The statute covers the interception or recording of communications, which means it targets audio, not video. The only Arkansas law that restricts video recording is a narrow video voyeurism statute (Ark. Code Ann. § 5-16-101), which applies only to secretly recording someone in a private area where they expect privacy, such as a bathroom, bedroom, or changing area, without knowledge or consent. A first or second offense is a Class D felony; a third offense or if the victim is under 14, it is a Class C felony. Mobile or concealed recording of a person’s body parts in such a setting is a Class B misdemeanor (Class A if distributed or a repeat offense). Recording police or public encounters with silent video is not restricted under this law, as the statute is narrowly tailored to covert, intimate, or voyeuristic conduct.

Arkansas has a separate law that protects your right to record on-duty police officers in public places or on private property where you are lawfully present. The law is Ark. Code Ann. § 21-1-106, enacted in 2015 by Act 1063 and effective July 22, 2015. It says a public officer or employee, including a police officer, cannot prohibit you from using a recording device in a place open to the public or on private property where you are lawfully present. The officer also cannot delete your recorded data or seize your device unless it is evidence of a crime or there are exigent circumstances. If an officer tries to stop you from recording under these conditions, you may bring a civil claim against the officer in an official capacity. Suits are brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993, and the officer is the only proper defendant. Arkansas was reportedly among the first states to enact such a statutory right-to-record law.

Even though Arkansas law protects your right to record police in public, the Eighth Circuit—where Arkansas sits—has not recognized a clearly established First Amendment right to record on-duty police officers. In Molina v. City of St. Louis, 59 F.4th 334 (8th Cir. 2023), the court granted officers qualified immunity because the right to record police was not "clearly established" in the circuit. This creates legal uncertainty, even where the state statute allows recording. Practically, this means recording should avoid interference, safety risks, or obstruction to stay within the statute’s protections. The Eighth Circuit’s stance is in tension with seven sister circuits (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th) that have recognized such a right, underscoring the need for caution when recording police interactions.

Recording someone’s conversation without being a party to it or without their consent is a Class A misdemeanor in Arkansas. The statute does not create a private right of action, so you generally cannot be sued for damages by the person you recorded under the wiretap statute itself. However, the recorded conversation could still be used as evidence in court, even if it was obtained in violation of the law. Arkansas courts have held that the exclusionary rule does not apply to recordings made by private individuals, only to government actors. In Elliott v. State, 335 Ark. 387 (1998), the court held that a secretly recorded call incriminating the defendant was admissible despite violating § 5-60-120, and in King v. State, 2019 Ark. 114 (2019), the court reaffirmed that private recordings remain admissible even when unlawfully obtained. The statute’s violation does not automatically exclude the recording from evidence.

Arkansas has one distinct restriction on covert video recording: Ark. Code Ann. § 5-16-101, the video voyeurism statute. It criminalizes secretly recording another person in a private area of a residence or other structure where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy—such as a bathroom, bedroom, or changing area—without knowledge or consent. A first or second offense is a Class D felony; a third offense or if the victim is under 14, it is a Class C felony. Mobile or concealed recording of a person’s body parts in such a setting is a Class B misdemeanor (Class A if distributed or a repeat offense). This statute targets covert, intimate or voyeuristic recording and is unlikely to be implicated by ordinary wearable-device use in public or visible settings, except in unusual circumstances (e.g., covertly filming someone undressing).

Imagine you are pulled over by a police officer and you want to record the interaction. You can record with silent video or with audio if you are part of the conversation. If you start a conversation with the officer and record it, that is lawful under Arkansas’ one-party consent rule. If you try to record a conversation between the officer and a passenger without being part of it, you would need the passenger’s consent or to be part of the conversation yourself. If you record only video with no audio, there are no restrictions under the audio law. If the officer orders you to stop recording while you are in a public place and you are not interfering, you can continue recording under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-1-106, but be aware that the officer may still claim qualified immunity if they take action against you. To minimize risk, avoid physical interference, safety risks, or obstruction while recording.