New rules on cop vid release
Critics see holes in city’s reform
The city is expanding its policy for releasing NYPD body camera footage with a new requirement that recordings be released within 30 days of violent incidents — but the change leaves potential holes in the effort toward greater transparency.
The policy announced Tuesday by Mayor de Blasio has three criteria for automatically releasing the body cam recordings: When an officer fires their gun and a bullet hits someone or “could” hit someone; when an officer tases someone to death or causes “substantial bodily harm,” and when other use of force results in death or “great bodily harm.”
“That creates trust, that creates accountability, that says to the many, many good officers that they know the whole truth will come out from what they saw, from their literal perspective,” de Blasio said at a news conference.
“And it says to any officer who doesn’t yet fully understand their responsibility that they will be held accountable and there will be consequences,” he added.
The footage will first be shared with family members of those involved in use-offorce incidents, the mayor said, and will be made available online to the public within 30 days.
But the policy won’t apply retroactively, de Blasio said, and police will still be able to trim recordings at their discretion to avoid revealing the identity of bystanders and confidential informants.
In past cases, the NYPD has edited out crucial scenes from incidents like the fatal police shooting of foreign exchange student Miguel Richards while he was having a mental health episode in September 2017.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest fought in court to get key footage.
“It’s hugely disappointing that the mayor’s initiative allows the Police Department to edit footage and it’s also hugely disappointing that it’s not retroactive,” Marinda van Dalen, a senior attorney at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, told the Daily News.
The NYPD launched its body cam program in 2017.
The new policy is the latest in a series of steps de Blasio has taken since heated protests over the death of Minnesota man George Floyd convulsed the city.
Gov. Cuomo signed legislation Tuesday requiring New York State Police officers to wear body cameras while on patrol and turn them on whenever they interact with the public or respond to a call.