Access to police-camera footage must improve, open-government advocates say

Government emails, metadata also top list of FOI-tech issues that leave us in the dark FOR RELEASE: March 14, 2022 Contact: Todd Fettig, NFOIC executive director  Phone: 352-294-7082   Email: nfoic@nfoic.org March 14, 2022 — The public too often is being denied access to police body- and dash-cam footage. This ranks as the most critical […]

Read More… from Access to police-camera footage must improve, open-government advocates say

D.C. Police Body Camera Update: A Year of Experience Shows None of the Problems Forecast In Mayor’s Push to Close Access

Since public access opened over a year ago, FOIA requests for video from Metropolitan Police body-worn cameras (BWC) have numbered just over sixty and redacting those released so far has cost only $25,000.

Those facts, released by the Open Government Coalition in a Sunshine Week briefing at the National Press Club, are far from the alarming estimates provided by the executive branch to the D.C. Council in the heat of the extended camera debate in 2015.

[…]

Read More… from D.C. Police Body Camera Update: A Year of Experience Shows None of the Problems Forecast In Mayor’s Push to Close Access

Report: Kentucky State Police Violated Open-Records Law in Bodycam Case

Kentucky State Police violated the state's open-records law by refusing a mother's request for bodycam video from her son's death by municipal police officers who were responding to a restaurant drive-thru shooting, the state attorney general's office said Monday.

[…]

Read More… from Report: Kentucky State Police Violated Open-Records Law in Bodycam Case

IA Gov: Review of open records laws ‘appropriate’ after shooting

Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday that a review of the state's open records laws is "appropriate" following disagreements about whether video of a Cedar Rapids officer-involved shooting should be made public.

"This is kind of a recent development of these police cameras," he said. "I think it would be appropriate for us to carefully review our laws."

[…]

Read More… from IA Gov: Review of open records laws ‘appropriate’ after shooting

Missouri bill would define open records access for police cameras

A Kansas City-area Republican is sponsoring a bill that would set limits on when police camera footage is public record in Missouri.

The bill would block access to body camera recordings shot in homes, hospitals and schools unless the investigation is closed and someone in the video requests it.

[…]

Read More… from Missouri bill would define open records access for police cameras

Body-Worn Camera Legislation Spikes in State Legislatures

Police shootings in the U.S. have taken over the national spotlight during the past year, triggering a rash of legislative proposals on the need for body-worn cameras. From bills that mandate police use of the technology, to others that set up policy guidelines for how the cameras should be used, the issue has exploded in state legislatures.

[…]

Read More… from Body-Worn Camera Legislation Spikes in State Legislatures