New rules for body cam footage and protesters who riot pass NC Senate unanimously

The general public still won’t be guaranteed the right to see body-camera footage of police shootings in North Carolina, but under a bill the state Senate passed unanimously Wednesday, the victim’s family would.

The bill, which now goes to the state House, contains numerous changes to criminal justice laws. Many were inspired by last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. And after sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City killed Andrew Brown Jr. last month in an incident that has since made national news and focused attention on the state’s body-cam law, the legislature moved to pass new rules for that, too.

The bill, Senate Bill 300, says a victim’s family should be able to see the footage within five days of the police killing or seriously injuring someone, unless the police convince a judge to keep the footage secret. That would reverse the current rules, which say the footage is secret unless the family can convince a judge to let them see it.

“I want to thank the Legislative Black Caucus for working with me to find a suitable change to make sure families have the chance to view the footage as soon as possible,” said Republican Sen. Danny Britt of Lumberton, the bill’s sponsor, in a press release after the bill passed.

Sen. Toby Fitch, a Democrat from Wilson who is Black, is the one who originally proposed the amendment with the body cam changes to the larger bill Britt has been leading through the Senate.

“The family needs to know,” Fitch said Monday when he proposed the changes, The News & Observer reported.

The changes only affect the rights of the family to see the footage, not the general public.

A group including Brown’s family, the local sheriff and various media outlets have asked a judge to make the footage of Brown’s death public, but the judge has declined. Brown’s family has asked for access to all of deputies’ body- and dashboard-camera footage. The judge allowed family members to watch heavily redacted video on Tuesday.

Other criminal justice changes

In addition to the change to body-cam rules, the bill also would create a new database to track police officers who have been involved in shootings, been suspended, been caught lying under oath in court and more. The state currently does not track any of that information.

If the bill becomes law, the new database wouldn’t be public. But law enforcement oversight boards could see it, so police chiefs and sheriffs would have a better sense than they do now of whether someone applying for a job with them was a problem cop at his or her past department.

The bill would also require police to get training on topics like mental health, use of force, racial bias, ethics and more.

And it would allow for tougher penalties against protesters if they engage in rioting or looting.

During a brief speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Gladys Robinson, a Democrat from Greensboro, commended Britt and other Republicans for working with Democrats like her to get the bill to a point where it could pass unanimously.

“We have a ways to go,” she said. “But this is an excellent start.”

The state House of Representatives has also passed versions of many of those same topics, although not the body-cam changes. The House unanimously approved bills on topics like tracking and using data about problem officers, and harsher penalties for looters. Now that the two chambers have each passed their bills and sent them to the other chamber, it seems there’s at least general agreement on passing something into law.

However, the details might still be up for debate, as well as the strategy — whether to work on the reforms in one massive bill like the Senate did, or in multiple bills like the House did.

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