Cops arrest woman videotaping traffic stop from her own front yard

It would be on a per state basis. In several states [1] the common practice is now to use wiretapping laws to prosecute people who record conversations in which the parties involved have not consented to the recording.

Now in the example you chose, there is a different element in play, in that your camera is, ostensibly, for security and surveillance. I cannot speak to the specific laws of any state, but if surveillance is indeed the intent, I don't see it being particularly at issue for you to have the camera simply positioned somewhere.

It may be, however, that some states or municipalities have laws governing what areas may be observed by surveillance. For example, I cannot point a camera from across the street and at your bedroom window and claim that it is for surveillance on the side of my house. I don't want to be too anecdotal about that claim, but I was present for a neighborhood dispute with a similar situation in which one party was a lawyer and made some statements to that effect.

But back to wiretapping charges. It's best to simply know the laws in your state. In the State of Texas the recording a private conversation is legal as long as at least one party in the conversation is aware of it. You cannot record two random people in a private setting without their consent, but you can record your own conversation with someone, even if they are not aware of it.

[1] - http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010...

Police are not elected, and they rarely attract top talent. In many cases they're not even hired and promoted by people who were directly elected. So regardless of the system of government, our law enforcement would have similar people and behave in a similar manner. It's an incredibly undesirable profession: Going into tense situations, with people who distrust you by default, for not much pay. You can easily make more doing far less, so a factor in the remaining appeal of the profession is being able to command respect. All of this has little-to-nothing to do with democracy.

I'm not defending the police here. Not in the slightest. I'm simply explaining some factors related to the state of law enforcement, and pointing out that it has a lot less to do with democracy than you think.

There's an obvious one if you're a lawyer :)