Alabama senator refiles bill to make body cameras, dashboard footage public records
artas via Getty Images
Alabama does not classify video and audio of police encounters as public records and provides limited access to those captured on tape.
This article was originally published by Alabama Reflector.
An Alabama state senator has refiled a bill that would make body camera footage a public record.
SB 24, sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, would make footage from body cameras or dashboard cameras used by law enforcement public records.
Coleman said in a phone interview Wednesday that the bill emerged from the death of Jawan Dallas, a resident of Mobile, last year. According to a federal lawsuit filed by the family, Mobile police “excessively tased” Dallas, 36.
“Plaintiff brings federal constitutional claims against all Defendants for committing acts under color of law that deprived Jawan of his life and his rights under the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit alleges.
A grand jury last year declined to press charges against the officers involved. The Mobile Police Department declined comment on Wednesday. Messages seeking comment were left Wednesday with the attorneys representing Dallas’ family and the city of Mobile.
According to Al.com, Dallas’ family reviewed body cam footage of the incident in November of last year. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said at the time that “the cause of death in this case was clearly due to cardiorespiratory failure and mixed drug intoxication.”
Alabama has long had poor open records laws. The Legislature earlier this year approved a law setting specific time frames for state agencies to respond to public records requests. But body cam footage was excluded from the law. The Senate Judiciary Committee last spring rejected a separate bill from Coleman to make body cam footage a public record.
Gov. Kay Ivey in 2023 signed a bill sponsored by Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, that allowed the disclosure of body camera footage to the “personal representative” of “an individual whose image or voice is the subject of the recording.” The law does not require a law enforcement agency to share the footage, including if it would affect an ongoing investigation.
Coleman’s bill currently sets a deadline for release within 30 days of the written request payment of the fee “not to exceed the actual cost of producing the recording.” She said that they are not trying to hurt anyone’s investigation.
“So I’m opening the door to folks that want to talk about, what are some things that we can do to compromise on to get the bill passed?” she said.
The Legislature begins its 2025 session in February.
NEXT STORY: Empowering state and local governments in the evolving tech landscape