CINCINNATI — You could soon have to pay hundreds to view police body-camera video.
Lawmakers in Ohio passed legislation this weekthat would allow police departments to charge up to $75 for each hour of video released to the person requesting it. The fees would be capped at $750.
The fee was included in an amendment to the state’s sunshine lawsthat was quietly introduced and passed early Thursday by the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The amendment has some people, like Sean Vicente with the Hamilton County Public Defender's Office, concerned.
"To put that barrier between a citizen and its government is a real problem and it's really going to hurt people who are not just poor, but working class and middle class," Vicente said.
Vicente says he's having a hard time understanding the reason for the bill.
State Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said the bill is a “solid way” to approach what he called an “expensive, labor-intensive process.”
Vicente says that argument doesn't make sense.
"This footage is already prepared and provided to either Public Defenders or defense counsel on a very routine basis," Vicente said. "So, to actually charge a taxpayer for that footage, is in some ways double-dipping."
In 2021, West Chester police determined two of its officers violated department policy when they stopped and questioned 60-year-old Eric Lindsay, who is black.
The officers were searching for a shoplifting suspect who was described as a white man in his 30s.
"The body cam footage, particularly in our case, and in so many other cases, gives clarity of perspective and confirms or refutes either side's version of what happened," said Civil Rights Attorney Fanon Rucker.
Rucker represented Lindsay in a lawsuit against the West Chester Police Department, the two officers, and Meijer, where the incident occurred.
Rucker worries about what the new law could mean for future cases like Lindsay's.
"In our case, it was absolutely essential, I don't think there would have been a claim to be had legitimately without it," Rucker said.
WCPO 9 reached out to multiple local law enforcement agencies to talk about the amendment. None of them wanted to comment.
The bill now sits on Governor Mike DeWine's desk to be signed or vetoed.
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