The North Carolina state legislature passed House Bill 972, a bill that gives law enforcement direct control, and greater discretion, over how and under which circumstances body and dash camera footage is released to the public.

Under HB 972, video and audio recordings taken from police cameras would not be a public record. Discretion to release footage is left to law enforcement, but they can deny to release the footage. If the agency denies a request to release footage, one would have to sue to attempt to obtain the footage--a costly and prohibitive measure. Footage obtained that is of public interest--such as video of a civilian death while in police custody--would not be released to the general public without a court order.

There's no time to waste. North Carolina's Gov. Pat McCrory has 30 days to consider the bill and could sign it into law any day now. Daily Kos is joining our friends at 18 Million Rising and the Southeast Asian Coalition to deliver petition signatures to Gov. McCrory this week.

The ACLU of North Carolina has come out strongly against the proposed legislation, citing three major areas of concern:

1. HB 972 does not adequately clarify current laws that are used to shield body camera recordings from public access. Currently, body camera recordings are routinely shielded from public access via exceptions to the Public Records Act and statutes that protect the confidentiality of officer personnel records. Shielding recordings that are in the public interest from public access thwarts the very purpose of body cameras—which is, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, to “foster transparency and accountability while protecting civil liberties and privacy interests.”
2. HB 972 affords far too much discretion to individual law enforcement agency heads to decide when body camera footage should be released, and to whom. Allowing for officer discretion regarding when and to whom to release body camera footage risks the perception that the law enforcement agency will release recordings subjectively, and only when recordings help to serve law enforcement purposes and not the public interest.
3. HB 972 creates a balancing test that weighs in favor of withholding recordings from the public, when in fact the opposite should be the case. There should be a clear presumption in favor of releasing body camera footage to the public when recordings display a matter of public interest, for example, an officer’s use of force. Presumptions can be overcome in extenuating circumstances, but should be in place to guide law enforcement's response to requests for body camera footage in most cases.

The increased attention around police camera footage over the last two years is largely one of balancing the need for transparency from law enforcement and very real citizen privacy concerns. North Carolina's bill does nothing to assuage anxiety around lack of accountability in law enforcement and instead builds even more distrust among communities--especially communities of color. Distrust in law enforcement puts everyone, civilian and police alike, at greater risk harm. Laws like HB 972 will make it even harder to find justice.

Keeping body and dash camera footage available for public review is a crucial part of holding law enforcement accountable and is vital to preserving civil liberties. Without being able to view footage, we would not have known what happened to Chieu Di Thi Vo in North Carolina or, just this week, Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

We have this month to convince Gov. Pat McCrory to veto the bill -- or it becomes the law and takes us further away from police accountability. Tell North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory: Veto HB 972.