Body cameras have been touted as a way to increase police transparency. In reality, the videos can be withheld for months, years or even indefinitely, an AP review finds
After the death last July of 26-year-old Daniel Fuller in Devils Lake, North Dakota, investigators described the video to his grieving relatives. But for days, weeks and then months, they refused to release it to the family or the public. They did so only after a prosecutor announced in November that the officer did not intend to fire his gun and would not face criminal charges.
To be sure, some departments voluntarily release videos of high-profile incidents, sometimes within days or weeks. They also are forced to share them during civil rights lawsuits or air them when suspects face trial. Many also routinely release videos that show officers in a positive light, such as when they rescue people from accidents, fires and other dangers. But how requests are handled when they are requested by citizens, reporters and government watchdogs varies widely.
Critics say the exemption is often misapplied to keep from public view video that might shine an unfavorable light on the actions of officers. The exemption is intended to protect sensitive details about investigations that might tip off suspects that they are under scrutiny or alert them to what evidence police have obtained.
"I see it all over the nation that police departments use this catch-all of 'ongoing investigation' to basically throw up a stone wall in front of those that might like to find out the truth," said attorney Jonny Hibbert, who is representing the family of an 18-year-old Atlanta man who was shot and killed by an off-duty officer after allegedly stealing his car. His request for any video of that incident was recently denied.
In the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and similar deaths of unarmed black men, police departments around the country faced public pressure to begin using body cameras. Rather than resist, said Marlow, the ACLU expert, they embraced cameras — but often only released videos that showed police in a positive light.
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