Reps. Price and Riecken have introduced HB 1225 which would urge the legislative council to assign an interim study committee to study the issue of public records requests for police video. Included in the study would be:
(1) Whether additional exemptions are needed in the open records law (IC 5-14-3) to prevent the disclosure of private information caught on police body camera video, including interiors of private homes, medical information, juveniles, witnesses, and victims.
(2) Restricting the scope and size of public records requests for police body camera video.
(3) Restricting the persons and agencies that may obtain police body camera video by making a public records request.
(4) Restricting the purposes for which police body camera video may be used.
(5) The ability of a public agency to search, redact, and edit police body camera video to remove nondisclosable information
It’s a brave new world. Cameras are becoming ubiquitous and digital storage space enormous. The intersection of these trends with public access laws is bound to make us uncomfortable. We’re headed into the Panopticon.
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