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10:09 AM PT -- Roger tells us he did record Jenni on his phone, but only because his attorney advised him to do so. He also says he's trying to level the playing field with her -- because he says she has 5 Nest cameras around their home recording at all times, but she's the only one who has access to the footage.

He claims Jenni throws that fact in his face, threatening to edit the footage and using it to disparage him.

8:35 AM PT -- Snooki posted surveillance video recorded in JWoww and Roger's home, showing JWoww speaking to police. The audio is low, but from what we can make out ... Jenni is making the point to officers that she wants Roger to be able to see their kids.

She flat-out says, "He should be allowed to see them ... He's not a bad dad."

The officer tells Jenni she's going to have to make that distinction -- keeping Roger away from her, but not the kids -- to a judge when she gets a court hearing in 3-7 days.

In her IG post, Snooki claims Roger was taunting Jenni by recording her on his phone "trying to get a rise out of her to use it for court."

JWoww's estranged husband is out on his ass after cops hauled him out of their home early Friday morning ... for absolutely no reason, he claims, other than Jenni blowing things out of proportion.

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Roger Mathews says the 'Jersey Shore' star got a restraining order against him late Thursday night after they had what he calls a "disagreement." Roger got his side of the story out quickly by recording a video -- from the back of the police car -- describing the night's events.

Roger claims JWoww got "completely, uncontrollably emotional like she always does" and threatened to call cops -- but he went to police first to file a report, preemptively informing them about their argument.

He says he went home, went to sleep and was awakened by cops at 2:30 AM ... telling him he had to get out of the house due to the restraining order. Roger wasn't arrested, cops just drove him to a friend's home.

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Roger continued pouring out his emotions from the friend's couch, and ripped into Jenni for not being able to see their 2 kids. He claims she exposed them to their fight, saying things like ... "Your father's a piece of s**t, he's out of here. I'm sorry I ever had children with him."

He maintains he did nothing wrong, and Jenni was so out of control he feared she would beat herself up and accuse him of abuse.

Remember, JWoww filed for divorce back in September ... but Roger said he wasn't giving up, and wanted to save the marriage. That seems like a tall order now.