police body cameras Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

30 Mar, 2016

Watch the video, read excerpts, from House Committee meeting on body cam video

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-30T09:44:14-05:00March 30, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Office of Open Records Counsel, police body cameras, State Rep. Bill Sanderson, State Rep. Bob Ramsey, State Rep. Curry Todd, State Rep. Johnny Shaw, State Rep. William Lamberth|0 Comments

State Rep. Bob Ramsey, R-Maryville Discussion by members of the House State Government Committee about body cam video legislation that would close access to records mostly centered on how best to avoid advancing the bill and instead request that the Advisory Committee on Open Government study the issue. See video: House Committee discusses body cam legislation. The committee clearly expressed that it did not want to move forward with a bill, with state Rep. Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton, stripping down his amendment to the part requiring a study and recommendation from the advisory committee, and state Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, at one point saying that passing any bill, even amended, [...]

25 Mar, 2016

TCOG opposes closing access to body camera footage related to police use of force

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-25T14:27:54-05:00March 25, 2016|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: police body cameras|0 Comments

The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to preserve and promote government transparency, opposes a legislative proposal that would close indefinitely public access to body camera footage related to questions of excessive use of police force or police misconduct. A bill that passed out of a House subcommittee this week in its current form would close these two key categories of footage created by body cams, making the video confidential until the conclusion of any investigation and resulting disciplinary, administrative or judicial actions, which could take an undetermined number of months or even years. We understand that law enforcement agencies as well as some communities have [...]

13 Mar, 2016

If you ever wondered about the importance of access to public records, watch the movie Spotlight

By Deborah Fisher|2016-03-14T08:04:46-05:00March 13, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: crime records, legislature, police body cameras, Spotlight|0 Comments

Scene from the movie Spotlight, which portrays the investigative reporting team of The Boston Globe who used public documents to help uncover a story of abuse of children by priests. There’s a great scene about public records in the movie Spotlight, which is based on the true story of The Boston Globe’s investigative reporting of child sex abuse by Catholic priests. Reporter Michael Rezendes rushes to the court clerk’s office to get an exhibit that had been filed as part of a court motion. It contained letters and evidence that showed that the Archdiocese of Boston had known about the molestation of children for years, but failed [...]

23 Feb, 2016

Memphis mayor says body cam video cannot be released if part of investigation

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-24T10:26:26-06:00February 23, 2016|Categories: crime records|Tags: crime records, Mayor Jim Strickland, Memphis, police body cameras|0 Comments

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Click on picture to see the full Fox13 report. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told Memphis TV journalist Greg Coy that video footage from body cam video cannot be released if the event it records is under investigation. The quote came during a story by Coy on the whether citizens will have access to video footage created by body cameras. "By law, it can't be revealed just like a paper document that is evidence. All evidence, whether it is a gun, whether it is a paper or whether it is video, if it is under investigation it cannot be released,” Mayor Strickland said. From the story: The city [...]

22 Feb, 2016

CA: Indefinite holding of police body-cam video would destroy purpose of having the cameras

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-22T07:53:12-06:00February 22, 2016|Categories: crime records|Tags: Commercial Appeal, crime records, Doug McGowen, Lucian Pera, Memphis, police body cameras, video|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal makes the point in an editorial over the weekend that a proposed policy to keep body cam video confidential until after an investigation into a police-involved shooting is finished could mean months or even years before citizens get to see it. Following is the Commercial Appeal's editorial, reprinted here with permission: During discussions at Memphis City Council meetings about the use of police body cameras, a point was made that should put citizens on alert. Memphis Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen, talking about proposed policy issues regarding the use and release of body-camera video to the public, proffered that the Police Department would deny any records requests related [...]

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