New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a policy that will allow her office to release body camera footage from officers involved in controversial arrests.
James revealed on Sunday that her office would no longer defer to local governments on the release of body camera footage after documents from Rochester, New York, officials appear to show city officials and police leadership delaying the release of the footage of Daniel Prude’s death.
“Up until now, the release of footage has been up to the discretion of local authorities, but this process has caused confusion, delays, and has hampered transparency in a system that should be as open as possible,” James said during a press conference. “Starting immediately, the office of attorney general will proactively release video footage to the public on our own.”
Up until now, the release of footage has been up to the discretion of local authorities.
This process has caused confusion, delays, and has hampered transparency in a system that should be as open as possible.
I am changing that.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 20, 2020
Prude, a 41-year-old black man, died in police custody in March. Officials within the police department and the city attorney’s office refused to release the body camera footage of his death to the public until September because they were concerned about protests and riots. The city officials blamed James’s office for the delayed release of the tapes because they said it could interfere with the attorney general’s investigation of the death.
When the tapes were released, Rochester faced protests and riots, including the recent occupation of the Rochester City Hall. James said her office will work to release footage proactively to allow the public as much transparency as possible.
“We will be doing this with an eye to making the footage available to the public as quickly as possible, publicizing the footage as soon as we have shown it to the deceased’s family,” James said.
