A police officer wearing a body cam is seen during a demonstration on May 31, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
What started as an attempt to curb the reputational harm of mugshots posted online has morphed into fast-moving legislation that would limit Georgians’ oversight of police activities.
Senate Bill 482 would greatly diminish the public’s ability to access footage from police-worn body cameras, dash-board cameras in patrol cars, and other video captured by law enforcement officers and agencies. Requesters would be required to list the full name of a person depicted in a video or the approximate date, time and location of the police encounter. They would be required to submit the request in person. Each video, even if related to the same event, would need to be requested individually.
If the video depicts a death, for example in an officer-involved shooting, the requester must go through additional steps. Under SB 482, even close relatives would encounter hurdles; they would be required to provide documentation verifying their relationship to the deceased in order to obtain a video showing how their loved one died in the presence of police. Law enforcement agencies would be given two weeks, perhaps more, to provide police videos depicting deaths. The current legal standard for releasing such government information is three days.
The barriers embedded in SB 482 would create multiple points for any request to be denied. And even granted requests would be slowed down by this burdensome and bureaucratic process, reducing the public’s ability to respond quickly to events that matter to them.
Journalists, too, would have to go through these extra steps to obtain police records, incurring the expense of time and travel simply to submit a request for law enforcement video in the public interest. While members of the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters would be exempted, online news outlets and citizen journalists would face greatly restricted access.
What’s more, law enforcement officers would be allowed to redact some videos to conceal victims and witnesses of police violence. That raises questions about what might be concealed from the public and the press even after the burdensome process of obtaining a video is complete.
Bottom line: Senate Bill 482 is a massive roadblock to government transparency and police oversight.
In its current form, SB 482 would erode the intended purpose of publicly accessible law enforcement-generated videos. For years, taxpayers across Georgia have bankrolled law enforcement video operations as a way to increase government transparency and police accountability. But if Georgians can’t readily access police videos, what was the point of spending millions in tax dollars to enable them? If police are allowed to put up barriers to obtaining videos of what they do on the job —and even given authority to redact some videos — will Georgians trust any footage that law enforcement releases?
SB 482 also would upend key provisions of the Georgia Open Records Act, which gives Georgians the right to request police records, as well as a wide range of other government documents about how elected officials and government employees do the public’s business. The bill’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Brian Strickland, is running to become Georgia’s attorney general. If elected to that statewide office, Strickland would be in charge of upholding the Georgia Open Records Act — the very law his bill would undermine.
Georgia law already deters so-called mugshot mills. It is illegal in Georgia to publish booking photographs and then charge a fee for their removal. Requesters seeking such police images already must sign a statement affirming that they won’t violate this law.
The Open Records Act also currently exempts from public release records that are part of an active law enforcement investigation. And it restricts public access to police video recorded in a location where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as inside a private home.
Publicly accessible police-generated video provides transparency that fosters public trust. The vast majority of Americans support equipping police officers with body-worn cameras. In addition, using body-worn cameras has enhanced evidence collection and improved the relationship between law enforcement and civilians.
Georgians want visibility into how law enforcement officers do their jobs. Senate Bill 482 would reduce what they can see. Lawmakers should reject the bill.
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