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ACLU and local lawmakers debate body camera bill

Local lawmakers back legislation passed by the state House of Representatives governing the police use of cameras, including body-worn cameras, that at least one group claims will severely limit the public’s access to video.

“If this bill becomes law, as it appears it will, the ability of the public to access police video will be nearly impossible,” said Reggie Shurford, executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. “The promise of police body-worn cameras was to provide additional documentation for greater accountability and transparency in police practices. Instead, these cameras will become a tool for more surveillance and for manipulation.”

State Reps. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, and Jeff Wheeland, R-Loyalsock Township, both voted in favor of the bill.

Everett said he is favor of greater transparency.

“Ultimately, I believe that camera and footage should be available,” he said.

What the bill does, he said, is establish an alternative process for that to happen.

“It does not preclude the court process,” he explained.

Everett noted that the bill has been heavily debated.

Wheeland said he feels the bill is a good piece of legislation.

“It protects police officers from false allegations of misconduct,” he said.

But ACLU officials claim the bill will allow police to hide their actions.

“No one should be surprised when we no longer see police video or when law enforcement selectively chooses which video to release and not to release,” Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the state ACLU.

But Everett feels what the bill really does establish a uniform process across the state for how one can gain access to police camera footage.

“There was always a lot of uncertainty as to how to attain footage,” he said. “Some police departments were just saying no.”

Randol said the bill makes a mockery out of the state’s open records and Right to Know laws.

The burden to justify why a government record should be released should fall on that government agency — not the public, she noted.

“They came up with a very byzantine and onerous process for the public to attain information,” Randol said. “It doesn’t do what people think it will do in terms of being transparent.”

Senate bill 560 was amended by the House, and must return to the Senate for another vote before it would reach the governor’s desk.

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