Transparency of Police Conduct Consistent with Public's Right to Know
The following article was authored by Pashman Stein Partner Sam Samaro and appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal on October 29, 2015.
In March of 1991, a Los Angeles resident by the name of George Holliday noticed some commotion outside his apartment. He grabbed a camcorder, went out onto his balcony and shot the now iconic footage of Rodney King being beaten by the police. The resulting prosecution of the officers involved occurred because, and only because, the incident happened to take place within eyeshot of a citizen with a video camera. At the time, videotaped evidence of police misconduct was extremely rare.
Today, it is not so rare. It has been estimated that as many as two-thirds of all American adults own smart phones. That means that most people walking the streets these days are carrying high-quality video equipment in their pockets or purses, and ever more frequently they are using those devices to record what they see in their daily lives, including altercations involving the police. On top of that, state and local governments have come under increasing pressure to add camera equipment to patrol cars and even patrol officer uniforms. As a consequence, police departments in many communities are now required to make their own video recordings of traffic stops, arrests and other interactions with citizens. We can anticipate a time when most things police do in public will be recorded by someone.
It is fair to say that law enforcement agencies are less than enthusiastic about this development. They argue, not without merit, that the videos only tell part of the story and often contain important evidence which, if released too soon, could compromise ongoing criminal investigations of suspects or internal affairs investigations of officers. They worry that the repeated showing of such videos in the media and their availability online creates unjustified cynicism about the police and may actually subject officers to retribution attacks.
