Officers required to fast-track its body camera footage

internal footage from half of a dozen incidents that took place during the protests and began working on a policy to make the process for releasing videos of high public interest quicker and easier.

Garcia acknowledged in a city memo this week that though the initial decision to withhold the videos “aligned with existing law and past practice, it did not meet the evolving community expectations of openness and transparency.”

In a statement Nov. 11, Paul Kelly, president of the city’s police union, said he was pleased the policy was adopted and that the union was “appreciative of the specific protections to ensure officer safety that were included.” Those protections include notifying officers before footage of them is released to the public and blurring out the faces of officers who withhold their consent under certain circumstances.

The Police Department’s initial reservations for releasing internal video footage dovetails with the Bay Area News Group filing a lawsuit against the city and SJPD in July to force the release of dozens of files on officer misconduct and use of force after the city failed to comply with the law and honor a public records act request from the news organization.

In response to a January 2019 public records request, the city staff estimated that it would take years to review and release more than 80 files sought by the Bay Area News Group and KQED News. Those estimates have narrowed significantly since the litigation.