“As police departments across Ohio look to use body cameras, we must ensure privacy rights are protected, while providing accountability and transparency on both sides of the camera. This bill will advance police and community relations by providing public access to body camera videos while protecting privacy of our citizens,” Antani said in a written statement.
Related: Ohio bill lays out which body camera footage should be public
Body camera video is generally a public record, according to the bill, except if it’s taken in a private home or business, involves the victim of a sex crime or is part of a confidential ongoing investigation.
The bill is backed by the FOP of Ohio, ACLU of Ohio and Ohio News Media Association.
Groups have pushed for body cameras as a means for making police officers more accountable. But while the cameras are becoming more universal, the question of which footage is releasable from those cameras is far from resolved.
Ohio’s open records law presumes that government documents, including photos, videos, audio recordings, databases, spreadsheets, shall be disclosed to the public upon request, unless they fall under an exemption. Over the years, lawmakers have shielded more records from public disclosure by adding exemptions.
Antani’s bill calls for exempting from disclosure body cam footage that captures video inside a private home or business or video of a sex crime victim.
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