What happens to body cam footage after fatal police shootings?

03/01/2018 News Insights

By Miranda Bogen & Campaign Zero

Insight: A 2017 survey found that 88 percent of Los Angeles residents believed that video should “definitely” or “probably” be shared with the public. Another survey found that a majority of New Yorkers believe the NYPD should release footage of high profile incidents “as soon as possible.”

Yet our findings show that we cannot assume police departments will make body-worn camera footage publicly available, even after the most serious cases like fatal police shootings. Body-worn cameras cannot be meaningful transparency tools without mandatory, consistent, and timely disclosure of footage from these events.