Letting SC citizens see body cam videos will help our police officers, not hurt them
Too many people — including some politicians and law enforcement officials — are putting too much effort into blocking public access to police body camera videos.
But there’s a simple reality that the shortsighted opponents of greater access never seem to grasp.
Yes, body camera videos can play a major role in identifying and weeding out police officers who fall well short of meeting the high levels of trust and faith that society has placed in them.
But body camera videos can also play a powerful role in assuring society that the overwhelming majority of police officers are indeed living up to the high standards and responsibilities demanded of them.
They can affirm the fact that — shift after shift, day after day — most police officers across this state and country are doing the right thing.
That, more than any other reason, is why the people who most fear the idea of making body cam videos public should actually be the ones supporting it with enthusiasm.
The truth is that it’s not transparency that hinders police work — it’s the resistance to acting in a transparent way that does so.
Exemption is a disservice
It’s time for South Carolina’s lawmakers to champion the cause of greater openness by passing legislation that would make body camera footage public.
It would close a ridiculously gaping loophole in current state law that allows law enforcement agencies to refuse to make body camera footage available for public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act.
The exemption for body camera footage is a disservice to the citizens of South Carolina — and it shows contempt for the public’s right to know how it is being represented by those sworn to serve it.
That’s why the South Carolina Press Association has spearheaded an effort for state lawmakers to drop the exemption on body camera footage — and it’s why South Carolina’s legislators should take seriously the need to change the current law.
In fact, it should be high on the to-do list of the new committee formed by the S.C. House to work on a number of issues related to law enforcement reform.
There should be little debate among the committee members that providing public access to body camera videos will benefit those who serve in law enforcement as much as it will the citizens they serve.
Transparency, not secrecy
Hiding body camera footage from public view and scrutiny — and let’s be clear, “hiding” is the proper word to use — will never help to make police work easier.
And it will never help to improve the public’s ability to appreciate just how well police work is being done most of the time.
It’s time for South Carolina’s lawmakers to rectify that.
It’s time for them to choose transparency over secrecy.
They must create and pass legislation to remove the exemption for police body camera videos.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 7:47 AM with the headline "Letting SC citizens see body cam videos will help our police officers, not hurt them."