Can the police film me — and can I film them?

Two directions, two frameworks. Police filming you: law-enforcement processing runs on the Law Enforcement Directive (2016/680) as implemented nationally — body cams, dash cams and demonstration filming each need a statutory basis, with retention and access rules set by police law. You keep data rights (access, complaint), exercised via the police’s own privacy office and your DPA — some countries route police files to a special chamber of it. Real-time facial recognition on public streets sits behind the AI Act’s near-ban: narrow, authorised cases only. You filming the police: in public places, recording officers performing public duties is broadly lawful across Europe — courts have repeatedly treated it as protected observation of public power, and several countries codified it. The frames that keep you safe: keep distance, don’t obstruct the operation (obstruction is its own offence and the usual pretext for trouble), and mind publication: posting footage identifying officers can trigger national rules — some countries restrict identifying publication, and doxxing an officer is criminal like doxxing anyone. Ordered to delete footage on the spot? In most countries an officer needs a legal basis to demand that — stay calm, state you’ll assert your rights later, and let a lawyer or complaint do the arguing. Phones get seized through procedures, not grabs.