Minnesota recently approved a body camera program that will ensure both police officers and citizens are protected from false incident accounts, but now some are unhappy about what information would be available to the public.
The current proposal would allow for any citizen to request to view an incident caught on a police body camera, but some people believe that’s going to far into personal privacy.
“A police officer responding to a medical call today, in this state, that video would be largely available,” said Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said.
While it’s important that ordinary citizens can access certain videos to ensure police procedures are being followed, not all police interactions are the same. For example, few people would have a problem with the public accessing a video of police officers pursuing a thief, but what about sensitive topics, like sexual assault or mental health issues? Does the public really need access to a victim’s retelling of their sexual assault, or of a parent explaining why their special needs child had a mental breakdown in a restaurant? Shouldn’t they be granted some privacy?
That’s exactly what resident Emmalyn Blomberg fears.
“I know there are things that have happened in my house that I just don’t want everyone to know about,” Blomberg said. “I wouldn’t want the people that I work with to see that or just people I go to school with to see [recording of an incident inside my home]. It’s kind of a thing that you want to keep private.”
Police Chief Schnell also had concerns over public access to mental health disturbances.
“The biggest concern would be that at the end of the day, somebody accesses this public video of a person having a mental health crisis, a problem with a child at home that becomes unruly or whatever; and police are called or a medical incident that ultimately someone could come in and say, ‘I want a bulk data request and ask for all kinds of video,’ and just go through and pick out the video that’s most interesting and post that,” Schnell said.
What Should Be Available?
Schnell said some data should remain private, but he’s completely fine with public access to certain encounters, like:
- When an officer uses or discharges a weapon
- Anytime a complaint is levied
- During a case of police brutality or excessive force
Maplewood wants to institute their own regulations prior to rolling out their body pilot camera program at the end of the year. If they don’t have regulations by then, they said they’ll respond to any and all access requests, which may turn out to be more than they expect. A representative for the city of Minneapolis said they have two city employees on staff right now to respond to the nearly 10,000 data requests they receive each month.
Hopefully the state can find some sort of middle ground when it comes to data access.
