"Video could be withheld for several reasons, for example if the footage jeopardizes a person's safety or reputation, or is part of an active investigation."
Question is, what about all of the cases in which murder charges were only filed against a police officer after video evidence showed that the officer lied about just what happened & why deadly force was used? Would the families of #LaquanMcDonald, #SamDubose, #WalterScott, #JonathanFerrell (and so many others) have had the finances to file lawsuits to secure the videos that brought their cases into the public eye? Would Oklahoma Reserve Deputy have been convicted for murdering #EricHarris without the bodycam footage that showed what really happened during the arrest? DashCam video may not have led to murder Charges in the case of #SandraBland; but it did lead to the filing perjury charges once the video went viral. Whatever happened to transparency, or at least the illusion of such, from those that are supposedly in place to "Protect And Serve" our communities?
Oh and don't think this is something isolated to just The Tar Heel State (take some time to look up the racial sickness behind the term "Tar Heel" in your free time). Lawmakers in at least 15 states have also introduced similar bills that would give law enforcement agencies the ability to withhold body and/or dashboard camera videos from public record. In light of some of the stories that have come out, in recent years, it would be insane for anyone to just believe that every officer is honest. Remember when South Carolina Officer Michael Slager claimed that officers administered CPR to #WalterScott, after shooting him in the back I might add; but video footage showed that no such thing happened? Video evidence showed that Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing absolutely EXECUTED #SamDubose, and lied repeatedly in his police report-claiming that his life had been in danger. If only we could have had body or dash cams on when #MikeBrown encountered Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson.
Now as skeptical as I am about the electoral process, one thing we must understand is that the average citizen actually wields the most power in the case of local elections. Choosing whether to vote for #CrookedHillary or #DumbDonald means nothing, if the same vigilance isn't in force when it comes to who will write the laws in the actual cities and states that we live in. And while this type of political fuckery has always existed, the current social/political/racial climate has given way to a crop of grossly unqualified lawmakers being elected to push forward increasingly narrow-minded agendas. As long as we allow these people to remain in power, more and more of these types of Gestapo reinforcing laws will continue to be passed and more of your rights will be taken away. Let us make a return to the days when we stood up and fought against repression. Failing to learn from the past will doom our future...
SOURCES:
http://wilsontimes.com/stories/Legislators-play-hide-and-seek-with-body-cam-footage,68322
http://www.wral.com/nc-bill-would-shield-police-body-camera-video-from-public-disclosure/15761285/
http://wlos.com/news/local/proposed-law-could-restrict-who-can-see-body-cam-footage
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/06/12/body-camera-bill-north-carolina-valencia-pkg.cnn
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/20/state-legislators-bill-restrict-police-body-camera-video-footage
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-police-body-camera-videos-20150320-story.html