FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition is calling for body-worn cameras to be used consistently among police departments in Rhode Island with timely release of footage and adequate safeguards for constitutionally-protected activity. “We start from the position that the use of body-worn cameras is a […]
By Amanda Palmeira The New England First Amendment Coalition recently hosted a panel discussion on Connecticut’s public records law and the use of body cameras by law enforcement. It highlighted the often contentious balancing of privacy and transparency interests. Titled “Caught on Camera: The FOI Fallout from Police Cameras,” the April 8 discussion was part of the Making […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition and several Rhode Island organizations — collectively known as Access Rhode Island — highlighted today deficiencies in a recently released state policy for the use of police-worn body cameras. The groups wrote in a statement that: “While the policy deployed […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition recently called for more First Amendment and open government safeguards in a police body camera policy proposed by the Rhode Island Attorney General and Dept. of Public Safety. Journalist and NEFAC Board of Directors member Tim White testified at an […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition opposes a bill in Massachusetts that would make police-worn body camera footage exempt from the state’s public records law. In addition to establishing a taskforce to explore the use of body cameras and law enforcement policies, House Bill 2120 […]
R.I. State Police Continue to Withhold Information FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition praises the Providence Police Department for promptly releasing body camera footage showing the recent fatal shooting of a Rhode Island man as he rammed his pickup truck into other vehicles on Interstate 95. The coalition, however, criticizes the […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org The New England First Amendment Coalition today urged the Franklin County (Vt.) Sheriff’s Department, the Winooski Police Department and Vermont State Police to make public as quickly as possible any body camera footage in their possession related to a recent fatal shooting of an unarmed […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Justin Silverman | 774.244.2365 | justin@nefac.org As police departments around the country increasingly use body cameras, many questions arise about access to these video records under freedom of information laws and how journalists can use the videos ethically. On April 8, the New England First Amendment Coalition will conduct a panel discussion of […]
By Amanda Palmeira Police body camera legislation and state freedom of information laws are on a collision course. With 34 states considering legislation to address body cameras for law enforcement last year, questions about the public’s accessibility to the footage captured by those cameras still abound. Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic recently argued, however, […]
By Amanda Palmeira Following recent excessive force cases across the country, many states are quickly legislating the use of body-worn cameras for police officers. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that 34 states, as of May 18, 2015, were considering legislation to address this law enforcement issue. Within New England, states have responded to the technology to different degrees, and in some cases, not […]