Our government should operate safe and secure prisons. If it is failing, the public should be able to know so that citizens can press for change. Based on the state’s own assessment of its prison system and the number of complaints coming from some prisons, including Trousdale, it seems clear that we need a closer eye on what is happening within.
An article today in The Tennessean outlines some of the conversation taking place about the use of body cameras by local law enforcement, with the city of Franklin's police chief saying she is waiting for state law to address usage before she rolls them out. “I believe that body cameras will become a basic piece of law enforcement work,” Franklin Police Chief Deborah Faulkner said. “But the first agencies that implement body cameras will create case law and I want to avoid that.” The newspaper reported that Faulkner urged lawmakers to look at an approach similar to Florida's, which adopted a statute last year exempting footage from the state's public records [...]
Representatives from police, the ACLU, the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, the Tennessee Press Association and one of the largest vendors of body cams offered thoughts today to the state Senate Judiciary Committee on the use of body cameras to record interactions between law enforcement and citizens. Several police departments are moving forward with plans to equip their officers with body cameras, raising issues of how the cameras will be used, how long video will be retained and what is releasable under the state's public records laws. See video: Hearing on body camera footage before the Tennessee State Senate Judiciary Committee (Body cameras start at 2:45) The Knox County Sheriff's Office, [...]
Nooga.com's reporter David Morton called me recently about the Chattanooga police chief's concerns about body cameras in Tennessee. His department plans to use them but he's concerned that the video would be public under the Tennessee Public Records Act. The issue is headed for some exposure. A summer study committee of the Legislature will be hearing comments on issues surrounding police body cameras the week of Oct. 19 after two bills were introduced last year that would require body cameras in local police departments and make all video from them confidential. There are some legitimate privacy concerns about the footage, but I urged that we be careful about changing the law [...]
