Police Video Release in 7 Days to be Required

Aug 03, 2022

Cleveland (Aug. 3, 2022) – The Safety Committee met today and passed out legislation sponsored by chair Councilman Mike Polensek that would require the Director of Public Safety to release within seven days video taken by bodycams or dash cams of incidents involving a police officer’s use of deadly force. That includes videos from incidents where the force caused serious physical harm.

“I’ve been advocating for this a long time,” said Councilman Polensek, who sponsored the legislation about a year ago. “I pushed for body cams years ago.

“I support the police and believe having the footage helps police and citizens alike. The camera doesn’t lie.”

Under the legislation, that may pass the full council on August 10^th, the “released footage shall be from at least three City recording devices or, if the incident is recorded by fewer than three…, the released footage shall be from all City recording devices that recorded the incident. The released footage shall begin at least 60 seconds prior to the incident or at the beginning of the recording, whichever is shorter.”

The footage is released by making it publicly available on the City website. Any additional remaining footage of the incident, redacted as consistent with applicable state and federal laws, shall be released within 30 days.

The Director of Public Safety, the Chief of Police and the Director of Law are not required to release footage of an incident if prohibited by a court order or some other legal prohibition. (Ord. No. 694-2021)