I think it is pertinent to discuss audio recorders and methods of use when dealing with the police or city due to recent decisions by various states on fourth amendment issues.

My experience recently was with our local city. I received a notice of code violation for woods on my property. When I met with the city officials I used my ipod touch to record the conversation. It turns out that once I provided a copy of the recording to 3 members of the city council the issue completely went away as well as the supposed removal of certain employees of the city.

I think that each and every encounter with law enforcement or any other official needs to be recorded for your protection. Many examples are on youtube or even discussed here. One of recent is the concealed carry holder in Ohio threatened multiple times with death by the officer. The dash camera recorded the entire event but with a current thread on the main about dash camera evidence not being exculpatory I believe is up to us individually to record these encounters for our protection.

Some states have laws stating that you cannot record conversations with law enforcement but I live in a state that I can record. I always start the recorder and inform the other party that the conversation is being recorded.

Chime in with your methods and what you use so others can get an idea of the techniques and what works best as far as brands. I don't really like the audio of the ipod and am researching other brands solely to use for audio.