IMPD chief defends policy on public release of bodycam footage
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Chief Randal Taylor on Wednesday explained the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s policy on releasing officer body-worn camera footage to the public.
The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council’s Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee asked Taylor to its meeting at the City-County Building. Taylor told the councilors, “IMPD must strike the balance between preserving the integrity of the investigation and potential criminal prosecution and our desire to be as transparent as possible with the community.”
IMPD has been under pressure to be more transparent with releasing bodycam videos to the public after a series of highly publicized incidents where police had to use force.
- IMPD bodycams show officers firing on man in his grandmother’s driveway
- Herman Whitfield III’s family shares body camera footage from night he died
Taylor said IMPD must consider whether releasing body camera footage from a certain incident would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. The department must also protect the constitutional rights of people in the videos who may face charges, and consider how releasing the video could taint a jury pool in a potential trial.
“There are considerations regarding the privacy and interest of those depicted in the body-worn camera video. Many times, this will include victims and/or witnesses who have called the police for assistance,” the IMPD chief said.
In most cases, Taylor said, the entire recording from a body-worn camera is rarely made public. “Critical incident videos are edited versions of body-worn camera footage from an event, produced and released with IMPD’s input and approval.”
Taylor tries to release videos within 30 days of an event, but the City-County Council can compel IMPD to release the videos sooner. The police chief told the councilors, “This is in ya’ll’s lane, to be quiet frank. You have the ability to have a city ordinance that would dictate how quickly those come out.”
Councilor LeRoy Robinson, chair of the Public Safety Committee, said its members have no plans to propose an ordinance changing IMPD’s policy on the release of video from body-worn cameras.