FLORAL CITY, Fla. — A Florida appeals court ruling that phone calls with law enforcement officers can be recorded with or without an officer’s consent has the man at the center of the decision calling it a “huge win” for police accountability.
In Florida, it’s illegal to record a phone call with someone else against their knowledge, but the same rule doesn’t apply to on-duty law enforcement officers conducting “public business,” the Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled in a decision last week.
The panel of judges made that ruling while dismissing wiretapping convictions against 63-year-old Michael Waite of Floral City.
Waite lives on a tucked away parcel of property in southeast Citrus County where 10 Tampa Bay talked with him Thursday.
The canal he lives on has been at the center of his sometimes contentious run-ins with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office dating back to 2018, when he says wildlife officers began spraying herbicides in his pond.
“They ripped out my no trespassing signs, came on the property and sprayed the pesticides killing the back pond area,” Waite said.
He then began documenting the run-ins, filing complaints about the perceived trespassing and calling 911 when deputies were on or near his property.
In 2021 he recorded a phone call with a Citrus County Sheriff’s sergeant after another incident of what he perceived as trespassing.
"I told [the sgt.] this is all private property, there are no trespassing signs at the entrance they don't have any right to come in here,” Waite explained. “And he says no they are public access, but they're not.”
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Waite says he sent the phone call recording to the sheriff’s office requesting an internal investigation, then he was arrested.
“They came out and arrested me and I had a tape recorder on me, so then they charged me with a few more recordings," he explained.
Waite was charged with five counts of wiretapping as well as battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. Police say he elbowed one of the deputies who were trying to handcuff him.
Waite took a plea deal, pleading no contest to the charges and avoiding possible prison time. He was ultimately sentenced to two years of probation.
“It also allowed me to be a free man basically on the outside to be able to file a legitimate appeal for all this,” Waite explained.
The appeals court granted his request for a hearing and last week threw out his wiretapping convictions, saying law enforcement officers don’t have the same expectation of privacy as everyday citizens. The battery and resisting charges were upheld.
“Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that any of the deputies exhibited a reasonable expectation of privacy that society is willing to recognize,” the written ruling reads.
“I think that my case will be cited quite a bit,” Waite said. “This is pretty huge and a big win for the people of Florida to be able to record a police officer and hold them accountable."
The state could still appeal the latest decision, kicking it up to a higher court. We reached out to the Citrus County Sheriff’s office for comment and haven’t yet heard back.
Waite says of recordings, “It gives you a chance to know the truth. It isn't just he said, he said, or he said, she said, the video and the audio will be able to record the situation and it can be fairly evaluated and it helps keep the playing field honest in the justice system.”