[UPDATE Sunday] When Should Video Footage from Police Cameras Be Made Available? SoHum Is Asked to Weigh in at Meeting

UPDATE: KMUD will be live streaming

Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming

Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming [Photo by Kym Kemp]

On Tuesday, November 7, District Attorney Maggie Fleming will be at the Healy Center in Redway to discuss the policy around the release of law enforcement video footage including that collected from body cams during officer-involved shootings. The meeting, which is from 6-7:30 p.m. will ask for public input on when and how video evidence should be released to the public.

Fleming said in an interview with the Times Standard that currently the policy is to release the video footage in an officer-involved shooting as soon as possible. However, she told the reporter,

…[T]here were considerations that needed to be made, including whether it affected the integrity of an investigation, public safety or privacy of people in the video.

She added it can take months for a video to be released.

“This is a very significant process, and it can take months,” she said. “And our review can take months.”

The meeting at the Healy Center is to collect public input on what policies should be put in place to decide when a particular video from the various local law enforcement agencies in an officer-involved shooting is released. However, at the current time, not all law enforcement in Humboldt County has the means to collect body and dash cam footage. According to Lt. Ken Swithenbank, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s office does not. However, many local city police organizations–Rio Dell, Fortuna, and Eureka–collect either or both body and dash cam videos.

Swithenbank said that the storage for the thousands of hours of video footage that likely would be collected by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department is “super expensive” and would require hiring someone full-time to manage it and the public requests to view it. He said, “Prices have to come down” before the Sheriff’s Department can afford to install body and dash cams for their deputies.

UPDATE: KMUD will be live streaming

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20 Comments
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laura
Guest
laura
6 years ago

keep me faceless on edited video footage please.

tired of all this
Guest
tired of all this
6 years ago

It should ALL be available to the press, immediately.
We pay for it with our tax dollars. It is OURS.
The police are our servants, as is the DA
They seem oblivious of that, don’t they?

Bc
Guest
Bc
6 years ago

Right. We own the videos , should be public….

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

The minute you “yeah, BUT…” you’re going against your initial principle. If you or I video in public, it may be shared without profit. That’s the law, period. The difference in this case is that you and I are paying for filming the public via police officers whether we like it or not. Please don’t be so naive as to believe the idea behind censoring police videos is for the purpose of bystandards etc. Even in Humboldt, the excuse has been, and will continue to overwhelmingly be for the sake of the authorities, not the public. The question is being posed not for your sake, but for the purpose of collecting language to resist video being released despite public demand. “Yeah, but…” in this case might as well be “no.”

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

We can literally spend the rest of our lives imagining fictional scenarios. Back in the real world…

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Why don’t you look up cases involving the censoring of police videos and tell me where you think the dialog is most important.

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Kym, Maggie Fleming is a very wealthy lawyer. She has been kind enough to solicit input from the public through you. Please send her an email asking her explicit answer to her own inquiry. She, like her peer, Cyndy Day-Wilson, who fought to bar police video from the public (and lost) are paid millions of our tax dollars over time to interpret this specific law. Unless she’s incompetent, Maggie Fleming should be able to deliver a very concise reply. Will you please do that? How would she have handled the case that Day-Wilson lost?

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago

I’d like to add that it goes without saying, the public, to whom she is indebted, is interested in her thoughts on the matter infiitely moreso than bloggers. (yes, i understand the semantics of the question…she will be at the meeting yada yada, but for all kinds of sakes, howzabout she put it in writing?)

Check yourself.
Guest
Check yourself.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

…and regarding your last sentence, it’s your discretion (the media) to censor the footage, but it should be available from the authorities we pay as-is for the sake of fully informing the public. Remember transparency is critically important. It’s supposedly the purpose of the cameras in the first place.

tired of all this
Guest
tired of all this
6 years ago

And the entire basis for the body & dash cams is, that when we are in public, WE HAVE NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY.

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
6 years ago

It is curious that the DA is coming to So Hum to seek input.
Is there some recent history or ongoing related issue that causes her to seek that info here?
Or is she making stops in other rural areas in the county to do the same?
If not, I want to give her credit for coming to an area where there will likely be strong and articulate opinions, some that will likely be in opposition to enforcement actions in general. More credit if she realizes that this community has something to offer when looking for solutions.
We in So Hum have decades of organized interactions with and often in opposition to the police. So, with that experience, our educated activists can make a contribution to this new and interesting discussion (where decisions need to be made and expenses allocated).

pi
Guest
pi
6 years ago

Our officials or government should not be given the time to edit the videos in there favor. They should be released immediately!

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago

Those of us who do not commit crimes say let’s all video everything everywhere! Like in Europe!

Big Brother watching? Fuck, I don’t care…

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
6 years ago

In this case, Big Brother already HAS access to the video. I say, release it ALL. Live stream it.

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
6 years ago

If it was all available,Bob Sagat would make a TV comedy clip show of “Best PD Fails”.
And someone else would make a gruesome version.

Ideally,live stream would be best. But it would get exploited.

The place and time that we live in probably has the least amount of daily horror for the average person,than any time in history.

Johnny
Guest
Johnny
6 years ago

Yes, we at KMUD will be broadcasting live on air and streaming on line. Also we archive our broadcasts so if you miss it you can listen at your convenience.
KMUD.ORG
91.1 FM Garberville
88.1 FM Eureka / Arcata / Cresent City
90.3 FM Laytonville / Mendo Coast
99.5 FM Shelter Cove / Ships at Sea