The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled the public should
have access to dash camera video footage unless the police agency can prove it
amounts to criminal investigative material and may be redacted, reported the Associated Press.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in favor of a lower-court
decision granting access to video shot by the dash cameras of two state
troopers’ vehicles as they responded to a 2014 crash near State College. The
majority says police vehicle recordings, as a general rule, are not exempt from
public disclosure.
The state police had argued the recordings always contain
criminal investigative material, but Justice Kevin Dougherty wrote that such
determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis.
In the dispute before the court, he said, the video showed
troopers investigating the crash scene and talking to the drivers and
bystanders.
The decision said the only part of the recordings that is
potentially investigative was the audio from witness interviews — portions that
had been ordered redacted by a lower court.
“PSP simply does not explain how the video portion of the
(recordings) captured any criminal investigation,” Dougherty wrote.
State police had argued the videos should be exempt under
the Right-to-Know Law and a state law limiting access to criminal records. An
agency spokesman said the case was under review.
The state associations of county commissioners and township
supervisors had supported the state police’s position, arguing the response to
a traffic crash made the recordings investigative in nature.
The requester, Michelle Grove, wanted videos taken after a
crash in Potters Mills, about 15 miles east of State College. One driver was
cited for not wearing a seatbelt and the other for failing to yield.
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