BREMERTON — Police in Poulsbo and Bremerton could abandon officer body cameras because their departments lack the manpower to edit all the video sought in public records requests.
Poulsbo Chief Al Townsend said a request for the 1,100 hours of video in the program’s first six months could take years to review with the limited staff time available.
“We would have to hire somebody to handle the video requests, and that’s not going to fly in our little department,” he said.
An officer must review video before it’s released.
“We don’t want to put people’s private lives out there,” Townsend said. “I can’t in good conscience give out footage that shows people in their homes.”
A request for video from police agencies across Washington asks that it be uploaded to YouTube to show the public how officers operate, the Kitsap Sun reported.
As it stands, if footage is not part of a criminal or civil court case, it must be released.
Townsend and Bremerton Chief Steve Strachan hope the Legislature revises the public records law regarding police video.
Bremerton plans to buy 42 cameras for officers, but Strachan is apprehensive about spending the money only to be struck by records requests.
The public records act approved by voters in 1972 was intended for written records, he said.
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