As noted in earlier posting by this blog, legislators closed access to the videos in 2005 at the request of the OHP and Department of Public Safety.
In Sunday's Tulsa World, OHP spokesman Capt. Chris West said the agency requested the recordings be closed to the public largely out of concerns for both trooper safety and the privacy of residents.
"I can assure you it's not about secrecy; it's confidentiality," West said.
Then why are such videos public elsewhere in the country?
There is a clear, legitimate and compelling public interest in making such videos open for public inspection. Access to police dash-cam videos in other states have revealed abusive behavior by law enforcement agents and also exonerated officers of such claims.
In Oklahoma, DPS officials release the videos when it suits them.
West told The Oklahoman that the only other time he could recall OHP voluntarily releasing video was in the 2003 killing of Trooper Nikky Green in Cotton County.
"In our opinion, that was night and day,” West said. "We were trying to catch a cop killer.”
But DPS recently denied a request by The Oklahoman to review video footage of a November 2008 incident in Henryetta where a trooper faces a misdemeanor assault and battery charge in the alleged beating of a handcuffed female suspect.DPS officials can choose which videos it releases because the state statute limiting public access says the department "may" keep them secret.
Oklahomans rightfully should expect state legislators next session to undo the damage they did to the public's right to know in 2005. Close the exemption.
If legislators won't do it, then let's hope the next governor will order his Department of Public Safety to make all the videos public as a matter of routine.
Let's not forget that the DPS works for the governor and the governor works for us.
Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism
My memory could be failing, but didn't they do this as part of the so-called Tulsa World Bill?
ReplyDeleteThe OHP was pissed off they lost in court to the Tulsa World over some records and came through with a bill to shut a bunch of stuff down.
As is typical with the Legislature, all you have to do is claim you need a bill passed to "protect the officers" and lawmakers trip all over themselves to vote yes. They never seem to stop and consider the consequences of their actions.
More importantly, they never stop to consider whether the agency's claims are true.