JEFFERSONVILLE — Just before new state law regulating police body cameras went into effect, the Jeffersonville Police Department announced it's suspending its program.
House Bill 1019, which becomes law Friday, outlines who has the right to view body camera footage and requires departments to store footage for at least 190 days. According to a news release from JPD, that requirement is too costly.
"While our objective is to always operate with transparency, House Bill 1019 has created a significant departure in our ability to manage our current body camera program within the existing agency policy and current equipment," the release states. "Any available services on the market currently meeting the requirements of the new laws will exceed any practical budgetary adjustments."
JPD started using body cams in May 2014, but the department went back into the testing phase after technical difficulties with the initial vendor earlier this year. Only about seven officers were testing body cams in the field, JPD Maj. Robert McGhee told the News and Tribune earlier this month.
The News and Tribune previously reported that the Clarksville Police Department is also suspending the program. Chief Mark Palmer cited storage requirements as one reason, but also said he worried he'd have less say on who he has to let review body cam footage. According to the bill, anyone depicted in the footage, family of a deceased or incapacitated person depicted in the footage, and owners, tenants or occupants of property shown in the footage, are guaranteed the right to view footage. Those defined a "requesters" are allowed to view the footage at least twice and in the presence of their attorney.
Media and other members of the public can request footage, but the bill gives departments the right to deny the release of footage based on certain considerations, including whether its release creates a "significant risk of substantial harm" to the general public, affects an ongoing investigation, or "would not serve the public interest." If someone requesting footage is denied its release, that person can take the matter to court.
In response to Palmer's decision to suspend CPD's body cam program, Indiana Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City, the bill's author, said it was the first time he heard such complaints from a department. Mahan said organizations like the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police and the Hoosier State Press Association supported the bill, and it passed unanimously in the Indiana House and Senate.
"In fact, everything I've heard up to this point, is now there's agencies now ready to implement," Mahan said earlier this month.
Mahan said the 190-day storage requirement was inspired by the 180-day statute of limitations for someone to file a lawsuit related to an incident. Ten days were added as a buffer to help smaller police departments comply, he said. But Palmer said a roughly $100,000 price tag for a needed upgrade to fill that requirement would be too costly.
JPD said it will search for "viable options" to possibly get the program back up and running.
"We continue to believe in the use of body cameras by our agency as a supportive measure to our mission of law Enforcement community service representing transparency and police officer safety," JPD Chief Kenny Kavanaugh said in a statement.