Prior restraint

 Not only is it NOT legal, but It’s also unconstitutional, and yes, there are laws prohibiting it.

You have a first amendment right to film the police, in public, during the course of their duties.

Nationally if an officer, who is a government official, shines a light at your camera with the obvious attempt to prevent you from filming, would be an act of “prior restraint".

Prior restraint is worse than censorship, it's when the government tries to prevent you from even telling your story.

You'd have to sue the officer and their department in federal court for “1983 deprivation of civil rights under color of law.”

Section 242 “of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States

In California, the act of an officer shining a light into a camera to prevent filming would be a civil violation of the “Bane Act". (See link below)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bane_Civil_Rights_Act#:~:text=The%20Bane%20Act%20(California%20Civil,force%20or%20threat%20of%20violence.

Links highlighting a case where a Police Officer was found GUILTY of Prior Restraint & the officer LOST their Qualified Immunity- FOR SHINING A LIGHT INTO THE LENS OF A PHOTO-JOURNALIST WITH THE OBVIOUS INTENT TO STOP HIM FROM RECORDING.