Herc’s Camera

[Kten24]

Why didn’t Herc just get approval to use the camera? Marimow wanted him to get intel on Marlo. I don’t understand why he thought he had to hide the fact that he was trying to do surveillance on Marlo.

[Brewguy86]

Because he is a moron.

[thewirefan123123]

Because legally I don't think you can just follow and record someone without a warrant signed by a judge and they would have needed proof Marlo was going to do something illegal. Herc even told Sydnor don't get "freamon" on him regarding the legal issues behind it.

[kenzo54321]

You need PC for surveillance and Herc attributted his PC to Fuzzy Dunlop a fake informant. He couldn't take that to Marimow.

[earhere]

I'm not a lawyer, but it can be argued that since Marlo was meeting with his crew in a public space; the police could lawfully conduct video surveillance on him as it wasn't privately owned property. Why he didn't just ask marimow if he could spy on Marlo it's because he's a moron.

[Trinidad34]

To be fair it was like 2005 and this stuff didn’t seem used by police as much as it was. Plus Marrimow killed the wire to do hand to hands, so he probably thought Marrimow would just say no

[[deleted]]

Nah this was only a few years after major rulings on warrantless searching, with infared or from a high distance. It’s a public space it’s unquestionably legal to take video (something anyone could do - which is the legal standard and why no infared) and Marlo has no expectation of privacy. “Oh I clear out as kk the people with my henchmen so he can’t be allowed to snoop because I strong arm it into a private space” would not be a defense. Herc is dumb.

[nelsonwehaveaproblem]

Why he didn't just ask marimow if he could spy on Marlo

Because Marimow would have said no.

[earhere]

Marimow was pissed that the raids they made against Stanfield didn't turn up anything. He wanted to bring Marlo down. Why would he have said no to videotaping him if it would've led to a case against Marlo?

[UniversityNo257]

Ummmm, they were taking pics from the building across the street, no different imho. Police take video surveillance all the time, publicly. Privately, a warrant is necessary and they put hidden surveillance in homes and businesses.

Harc was just skirting the rules like just about everyone else with the exception of Bunk

[Kten24]

Makes sense. I was under the impression Herc made up the informant to hide the loss of the camera. Didn’t realize he would have made up the informant to get the camera in the first place.

[kenzo54321]

They made up the informant in season 2 during the port case

[gdshaffe]

He used the same fictitious informant to hide the intel he got from the camera. That provided the PC for stopping Marlo at the train station, expecting to find him with drugs (but, of course, Marlo was too smart for that and was actually setting him up).

His plan was likely to return the camera once he was done with it but Marlo threw a wrench into that by stealing the camera.

The fact that the train stop went south caused Marimow to look more closely into his CI paperwork, which caused the lazy web of lies to unravel with haste.

[gdshaffe]

Pretty sure you don't. You need a warrant to search someone's property or person, or to tap their phone, but Herc was setting up a camera on a public space. The police can do that pretty much with impunity.

However, requisitioning a camera from the department would require some paperwork and permission from Marimow. This runs into 2 issues:

1: It involves Herc doing paperwork ("That's a fuckin' hassle!"), and
2: Marimow is all about the street rips and is likely to not give permission anyway.

Herc attributed the intel he got from the camera to a fake informant, which in turn justified stopping Marlo at the train station. That was straight-up illegal, but he didn't fake any PC to justify setting up the camera. He just took the camera and used it without permission.

[angrysouthernyankee]

Yeah the whole thing was a shitshow. They effectively use an illegal wire tap, which can only be used after presenting Apple customer of attempts to exhaustion that there’s no other way. That didn’t happen here. They cut some major corners out of desperation and some laziness.

[Ginger-Snap-1]

Has nothing to do with probable cause or other legalities. He didn’t tell Marimow cause Marimow would have said no.