Can I film the police?
Filming a police operation in public is nowhere expressly prohibited — what makes it an offence is the audio track. § 120 StGB and Arts. 1 and 2 of the Secret Sphere Act criminalise recording non-public utterances and conversations. And here it gets messy: both statutes catch the same act with different penalties — up to 1 year under § 120 StGB, up to 3 years under Art. 1 of the Secret Sphere Act. Which one prevails is unresolved: there is no Liechtenstein case law on the point, and the Landespolizei publishes no position — we searched specifically and found none. The myth: "I am only filming as evidence, that is a private matter." It is exactly the other way round.
📋 The rules
- § 120(1) StGB: anyone who uses a recording device or listening device to obtain, for himself or another unauthorised person, knowledge of a non-public utterance not intended for his ears is punished with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 720 daily rates. The element of the offence is the non-public character of the utterance — not the filming.
- The second statute, with triple the penalty: Liechtenstein additionally has the Act on the Criminal Protection of the Personal Secret Sphere (LR 311.3). Art. 1: recording or listening in on someone else's non-public conversation without the consent of all participants — a misdemeanour, up to three years. Art. 2: recording as a participant in the conversation — up to one year. Art. 2 is precisely the "I record my own traffic stop with audio" case.
- So which statute governs? That is open. § 120 StGB follows the Austrian model, the 1969 Secret Sphere Act the Swiss one. Both cover audio recording of non-public conversations, with different penalties. We found no Liechtenstein case law resolving the conflict — and we are not going to invent one.
- Image recordings (Art. 3 Secret Sphere Act) are caught only where they concern "a fact from the secret sphere" or a "fact from the private sphere not readily accessible to anyone". An official act on a public street is typically neither — so filming as such does not fall under that provision.
- All of them are complaint offences. Arts. 1, 2 and 3 are prosecuted only "on application by the person whose rights were violated". Without a criminal complaint from the officer concerned, nothing happens — your real exposure hangs on that decision, not on the statutory text.
🔓 Exceptions
- Leave the audio off: filming silently takes you entirely outside § 120 StGB and Arts. 1 and 2 of the Secret Sphere Act. It is the only technically clean way to reduce the risk — and, given the unresolved clash between the two statutes, the only reliable one.
- A public utterance: where an officer shouts instructions across a square, there is a strong argument that the utterance is not "non-public", in which case the element of the offence is missing. No Liechtenstein case law was found on this either; the boundary is open.
- Obstruction is a separate offence: filming must not interfere with the official act. Physically obstructing an operation is punishable regardless of the camera (offences against state authority, §§ 269 ff. StGB).
⚠️ Penalties & fines
Recording a non-public utterance: up to 1 year or 720 daily rates (§ 120 StGB). Listening in on or recording someone else's non-public conversation: up to 3 years (Art. 1, Secret Sphere Act). Recording as a participant: up to 1 year (Art. 2). Which range applies in a given case is unresolved — the two statutes sit side by side. In each case prosecution follows only on complaint. Publish the footage and you add GDPR fines plus civil claims for destruction of the recordings, an injunction and damages. Not obvious: the phone holding the recording can be seized as evidence in proceedings against YOU.
📎 Official sources
- LILEX — Criminal Code and the Act on the Criminal Protection of the Personal Secret Sphere (register home page) →
- Data Protection Authority Liechtenstein — topics A–Z, including photos and drones (home page) →
- Landespolizei Liechtenstein (home page — on our search, publishes no position on filming operations) →
❓ Frequently asked
Is filming a police operation prohibited?
The picture alone is nowhere expressly banned, because an official act on a public street is neither the secret nor the private sphere. What usually turns the recording into an offence is the audio track.
Why is the audio the real problem?
Because § 120 StGB and the Secret Sphere Act criminalise recording non-public utterances and conversations. Art. 2 of that Act covers exactly the case where you record your own police stop with sound.
So which law applies — 1 year or 3 years?
That is unresolved, and we are not pretending otherwise. § 120 StGB threatens up to one year, Art. 1 of the Secret Sphere Act up to three, and no Liechtenstein case law settles which statute prevails.
What does the Landespolizei say about it?
Nothing. We searched landespolizei.li and llv.li specifically and found no published position on filming police operations. That is a finding, not a gap in our search — we will not invent an official view.
Can I post the video online?
Doing so takes you out of the household exemption and you then need a legal basis under Art. 6(1) GDPR. The Data Protection Authority states expressly that recordings made for security or evidence purposes are not purely personal.
🔎 Common searches
What people search to land here:
- “can i film the police liechtenstein”
- “filming police operation legal liechtenstein”
- “recording without consent illegal liechtenstein”
- “post video of police liechtenstein”
- “right to own image liechtenstein”
- “secret recording conversation liechtenstein penalty”