Recording Law for Police & Civil Rights in Oregon

Oregon makes a sharp distinction between open and secret recording of on-duty police officers. If you openly record an officer during a traffic stop, arrest, or other public encounter, that recording may be protected under ORS 165.540(5)(b), which permits recording on-duty officers from a lawful vantage point as long as the recording is done openly, the audio is audible to normal hearing without special equipment, and you are in a place you are legally allowed to be. However, secretly recording an on-duty police officer remains a crime in Oregon. The same statute that creates the exception for open recording also makes it a Class A misdemeanor to secretly record an on-duty officer under ORS 165.540(1)(c). The Ninth Circuit's en banc decision in Project Veritas v. Schmidt, issued January 7, 2025, rejected First Amendment facial and as-applied challenges to the statute and upheld it under intermediate scrutiny as content-neutral and narrowly tailored. The court's majority and dissent both agreed that Oregon's all-party notice rule for in-person conversations applies even in public places, noting that the statute criminalizes audio-recording someone in public if 'not all participants in the conversation are specifically informed that their conversation is being obtained,' such as on a public sidewalk or in a restaurant.

For any in-person conversation between two or more people in Oregon, all parties must be told the conversation is being recorded. This is called the all-party notice requirement and comes from ORS 165.540(1)(c). The law defines a 'conversation' broadly under ORS 165.535(1) to include any oral communication between people that isn't a phone call or radio communication. The Ninth Circuit's en banc Project Veritas decision confirmed that this rule applies regardless of where the conversation happens — even in public places like parks, sidewalks, or restaurants — because the statute contains no reasonable-expectation-of-privacy gate. The only exceptions are the narrow, enumerated public or semipublic proceedings where recording is expected, such as government hearings, trials, press conferences, classes, or meetings where all others involved knew or reasonably should have known that the recording was being made under ORS 165.540(6)(a). Simply being in a public place does not create an exception; you must be in one of these specifically listed situations to record without notice.

Oregon treats phone calls and video calls differently from in-person conversations. For regular phone calls (landline or cellular), Oregon follows a one-party consent rule under ORS 165.540(1)(a). This means you can record a phone call you're participating in without telling the other person. However, video calls made through apps like Zoom or FaceTime are treated like in-person conversations and require all-party notice under ORS 165.540(1)(c). This distinction matters if you're using a device that records both audio and video during a call. The law changed in 2021 to move video conferencing calls into the all-party notice category; ORS 165.535(1) now expressly includes video-conferencing communications in the definition of 'conversation.' Make sure you know which type of call you're making.

For recording on-duty police officers, the law requires the recording to be done openly. This means the recording device must be in plain view and not concealed. The audio must be audible to normal hearing without special equipment like parabolic microphones. You must also be in a place you're legally allowed to be — not trespassing or breaking into a restricted area. If any of these elements are missing, the recording doesn't qualify for the police exception. The Ninth Circuit's Project Veritas decision noted that secret recording of police remains illegal even in public places. If you're unsure whether your recording method meets these requirements, it's safer to assume it doesn't.

Imagine you're pulled over by an Oregon state trooper. You place your phone on the dashboard in plain view, start the recording app, and the device is clearly visible to the officer. This would qualify as open recording under ORS 165.540(5)(b) because the device is in plain view, the audio is audible to normal hearing, and you're in a lawful location. Now imagine you hide your phone in your pocket and record the conversation without telling the officer. This would be secret recording, which remains illegal under ORS 165.540(1)(c). Even though the encounter happens in public, the law requires notice for in-person conversations. The same would apply if you used a hidden microphone or recording device to capture the conversation.

Secretly recording an on-duty police officer or failing to give all-party notice for an in-person conversation is a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon under ORS 165.540(9). This carries potential penalties including fines and jail time. The law also prohibits using or disclosing recordings obtained illegally. Separately, if your device captures voiceprints or other biometric data, the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA) may apply: OCPA requires opt-in consent before processing sensitive biometric data such as voiceprints, imposes duties to provide a privacy notice, allows consumers to revoke consent, and requires documented data protection assessments for sensitive-data processing. OCPA is enforced exclusively by the Oregon Attorney General with civil penalties up to $7,500 per violation and a five-year statute of limitations; there is no private right of action. The Ninth Circuit's en banc decision in Project Veritas v. Schmidt upheld the wiretap statute against First Amendment challenges, so it remains in effect. If you're concerned about accidentally violating these rules, the safest approach is to be transparent about recording and follow the open-recording requirements for police encounters.