Washington police investigate creator of cop parody videos.

Although police view the videos as threats, a prominent First Amendment expert has criticized the investigation as an attempt to stifle speech critical of the police department.

Eugene Volokh, a professor at UCLA law school who specializes in free speech issues, said the state's cyberstalking law is unconstitutional for several reasons, including that the statute broadly defines what constitutes harassment.

“Speech to the public doesn't lose its constitutional protection because it’s intended to torment or embarrass,” he said.

And in the case of videos at issue in the search warrant, the judge who signed off on the warrant should have known that the speech was protected and that, therefore, no crime was committed, Volokh said.

“The government is not permitted to use its coercive power to identify the author of this constitutionally protected video,” he said.

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