Call for more police video
Baltimore County exec sees transparency as issue in body camera releases
Citing the need to uphold a “transparency push,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said the county’s police department should release bodyworn camera video “more frequently.”
“There is no written policy” currently in place to dictate when the county would make public the body camera video obtained from officers on duty, Olszewski, a Democrat, said Tuesday in a meeting with The Baltimore Sun editorial board. He said County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt has been asked to develop a policy.
“As part of our transparency push, I believe that the police department should be releasing more footage and more frequently,” Olszewski said.
County efforts to evaluate its bodyworn camera policies come amid the ongoing debate over the public’s right to view video that could later be used in court. Olszewski’s comments, while not directly related, also come after an officer fatally shot a Parkton man during a Nov. 26 traffic stop. The officer was placed on administrative leave while the department reviews the incident.
Hyatt previously mentioned the policy efforts to The Sun in September, adding that the video falls under the umbrella of data that the public is “entitled to have.”
“A lot of these things are elements that — whether it’s the police department or the county — [haven’t been] shared as openly in the past and we’re really looking forward to moving in a new direction with that,” Hyatt said in September.
Hyatt is in the process of trying to finalize that policy, Olszewski said. A draft of that policy is being reviewed by the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 before it’s finalized, said David Rose, second vice president for the union. A hard deadline for the release of that policy hasn’t been set yet. In addition to getting the FOP’s feedback, Olszewski’s administration and the police department are also working with the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office to develop the policy.
Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said they want to balance the interests of “the public to know and see” body camera video with the interests of “potential criminal defendants.” His “overriding concern” is to ensure they’re protecting the rights of a defendant to a fair jury trial, he said.
“I’m always concerned that early and premature releasing of body camera videos could potentially taint a jury pool and I very much would like to obviously avoid that because I think that’s really important [for] whoever the defendant happens to be,” he said.
Shellenberger said he’s “hopeful” they’ll reach an agreement in the near future so people can see the actual written policy once it’s released.
Baltimore County Police Department spokesman Shawn Vinson confirmed that the department is working on a body camera policy and is reviewing the draft of that proposed policy. He said the department is not planning to release the footage related to last month’s officerinvolved fatal shooting of a Parkton man during a traffic stop.