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."
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The Senate has given key approval to legislation that provides a process for releasing dash cam videos of police shootings and protects the last utterances of victims in 911 calls.
The Senate on Tuesday voted 40-0 to give the bill second reading.
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California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris wants to require police agencies to file detailed reports about officer-involved shootings to her office electronically, so they can be quickly and easily posted on a state website for public viewing.
Despite the heated national debate over police use of force, no reliable database tracks all police shootings in California, making it difficult for researchers to definitively answer some fundamental questions, including whether minorities are shot at disproportionately higher rates and which departments pull the trigger most often.
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The nationwide focus on police shootings is gradually forcing state and local authorities to confront another public concern that lingered for years in the margins of news pages: police secrecy.
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A Pennsylvania House committee gave an overwhelming thumbs-up to a bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for public officials to release the names of cops who shoot civilians until an “official investigation” is completed.
The panel passed the legislation unanimously.
Republican State. Rep. Martina White, a freshman lawmaker from Philadelphia, introduced the bill.
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Palm Springs will now make public the identities of police officers involved in shootings while on the job. This is a win for the public and should also be seen as good for members of law enforcement.
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A new Texas website allows the public to access many of the details of every officer-involved shooting that results in injury or death.
The website was launched by the Texas Attorney General’s office in response to a new state law that requires law enforcement agencies to report all officer-involved shootings within 30 days from when the incident occurred. Continue…
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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.
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