State high court to hear KOMO's public records suit
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SEATTLE -- Washington state's highest court will hear a case brought by the KOMO Problem Solvers involving the public's right to records.
In the simplest terms, the city of Seattle wants to keep its police dashcam videos under wraps for three years. However, KOMO News believes the public the public should have quicker access to the footage.
After fighting for more than a year to gain access to the Seattle Police Department's database of dashcam videos, KOMO News filed a lawsuit, alleging the department is breaking state public records law.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, contends the police department has intentionally and illegally stonewalled the Problem Solvers over and over again.
Now the state Supreme Court will decide.
Every day in Seattle, cameras on the dashboard of police cruisers record officers' interactions with the public. Police regularly use the recordings to bolster criminal cases, but the same cameras have also caught acts of police misconduct.
The dashcam footage have played a role in a federal investigation that found Seattle cops routinely use excessive force and have a disturbing pattern of biased policing.
But in most cases, those videos are kept under wraps for three years.
After a lower court approved the city's three-year delay policy, KOMO News asked the state Supreme Court to step in. The court has agreed, and will likely hear oral arguments early next year.
In the simplest terms, the city of Seattle wants to keep its police dashcam videos under wraps for three years. However, KOMO News believes the public the public should have quicker access to the footage.
After fighting for more than a year to gain access to the Seattle Police Department's database of dashcam videos, KOMO News filed a lawsuit, alleging the department is breaking state public records law.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, contends the police department has intentionally and illegally stonewalled the Problem Solvers over and over again.
Now the state Supreme Court will decide.
Every day in Seattle, cameras on the dashboard of police cruisers record officers' interactions with the public. Police regularly use the recordings to bolster criminal cases, but the same cameras have also caught acts of police misconduct.
The dashcam footage have played a role in a federal investigation that found Seattle cops routinely use excessive force and have a disturbing pattern of biased policing.
But in most cases, those videos are kept under wraps for three years.
After a lower court approved the city's three-year delay policy, KOMO News asked the state Supreme Court to step in. The court has agreed, and will likely hear oral arguments early next year.
HMMMMM....   Where to begin...  people today (news reporters) just believe that everything should be public, weather it be good or bad, private, no matter who it hurts. NO privicy for anyone. Sometimes the news is out there just to keep all the hatred going. If there wasn't andy bad news to talk about or traggidies they wouldn't have jobs.Â
 Be careful they cound be coming to your area soon and demanding your video survalliace you have for your home security.  Remember we all (the public) have a right to know what you are doing :-)
"KOMO News believes the public the public should have quicker access to the footage."
Not just the public, but the public the public!
I thought police were to uphold the U.S. Constitution....  If they were doing their job and doing it as the law pertains there shouldn't be a question of why not.....If  their scared then we can just assume them to be PIGS
An interesting conundrum. On the surface this does seem to violate public records laws. On the other hand, as more and more encounters with police are being recorded, there is much information there that doesn't necessarily belong in the public eye either.
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Sorry KOMO, but I disagree that you should have unfettered access. As a citizen being recorded if I approach an officer, this would mean that I potentially have no privacy. For that reason, I believe that the records should be protected, with the caveat that if the party being recorded always has the legal right to request the video at any time and release it to the media if so desired.
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The repercussions if KOMO wins are just too far reaching for me to support this. There's potential for great harm to come to those who report crimes, or are simply caught in a compromising or embarrassing position. For example, the cops were recently called on me by my neighbors (thanks a lot!) for my screaming 8 month old child. He was teething, sick, and generally just having a really bad time. Nothing was wrong. Nonetheless, if that cop was wearing a camera, and that video was public data as KOMO is suggesting, I could wind up in a "bad parents who've had the cops called on them" mashup or worse, and I would have no recourse because it's public footage.
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I hope the supreme court stomps this one out quickly.
If you want YOUR recorded discussion with the police on their dash cam video as a witness, victim, or anything else shown by KOMO to the world for all to see go right ahead and support this.Â
If KOMO is going to start SUING people to get information and video clips they can creatively "edit" so it fits their spin and agenda, I highly encourage people to sue KOMO (and any other biased news agency) if their reporters and cameramen/women come up to you on the street and violate your personal space by shoving a mic in your face. I can hardly wait for it to snow! They're like VULTURES when it snows, and some extra money would be a GOOD thing.
 @Wolfen Why on earth do you watch or read news from a station you believe to be completely insensitive? And not just watch or read, but sign up to comment as well! If you hate this so much, go somewhere else!
@Commenter87643 I believe KOMO is on a police "witch hunt," and is fueling "anti cop" sentiment while egging on the ones who are on the so called hunt WITH them. Yea, there are some bad cops, but suing to expose the BAD ones, just makes the jobs of the GOOD ones that much harder. Instead of obtaining video to put on your website to enflame the masses, those videos should be used a COURT and ONLY in court to prosecute and punish the bad cops. And people wonder WHY no one respects our law enforcement anymore? So much biased reporting have this wonderfully liberal city thinking ALL police are tyrannical Nazi's. It's crap.
 @Wolfen  @Commenter87643 It would certainly be nice if we could rely on police internal affairs to 'out' their bad officers, but it's been shown repeatedly that a lot of police departments can't be trusted on that.
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If the videos were to be seen ONLY in a court that's ready to prosecute bad cops, they would almost never be seen and a lot of bad behavior on the part of cops would never even be reprimanded.
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A good portion of the bad behavior isn't even what would normally be called 'criminal', but when a person in power abuses thier power, it can rise to the level of criminal and we ought not to wait to investigate the behavior until it is.
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When a person that has had a bad interaction with police requests the video record, they ought to get it PDQ. What they do with it after that would depend on whether there were other private parties involved.
Three years is far too long. Thirty to sixty days would be more appropriate but even then I would question the delay. Go KOMO! Fight the good fightÂ
Yeah we get more several year old videos of cops saying bad words to gang members being highly edited by komo staff.
If the cameras can be used against citizens, then it should be alright to use them against the police when there is evidence or at least question, about improper conduct - that's just fair. Otherwise, citizens have no right to privacy. We have the right to it, but if we want to keep it, we have to exercise that right in order to avoid a KGB/Gestapo police state. The police should not have the right to keep footage; they have to go through the legal process of getting a warrant to search places or arrest people because they have constitutionally protected rights. If the police think they can do what they want, they will do what they want, and they have done it, or the Department of Justice would have taken no interest in the Seattle police.
Paid by tax dollars, of course as tax payers, we have a right to know how our money is used, whether intentionally good or bad.
3 years is ridiculous and is only there for one reason, to hide the truth. 30 days would be fine and the agency should charge for request for videos. A couple of bucks is plenty, but they do need to charge something for the service. Its all public tax payer paid information and should never be kept hidden from the people that have to pay for it.
 @Blindman Yes, exactly. I pay a per page fee for each page of information I need from the courthouse, dash cam footage should be the same.We could generate revenue from fees on free- to- create digital copies.
 @SoTweetie  @Blindman I don't think it should be a profit making enterprise, but, neither should the department go in the hole over it.
While I agree they need to be available in specific instances, how do you prevent mass requests that could and would be used to create smear campaigns against an officer, a department, or the entire force.
 @My_Thoughts Remove the cameras.
 @My_Thoughts If an officer is polite, efficient and professional, why would that be an issue?
@RightPerspective @My_Thoughts if the person being contacted by police is polite, there is no issue either.
When do we get to hear about the DV incidents that KOMO staff have? Or the swearing in the workplace? KOMO is the "Watchdog", they get to choose what you see and hear. Who reports on what they do?
I would like for the KOMO staff to wear cameras around all day long so we can hear and see what goes on behind the scenes. And no, I am not dumb enough to think that they are perfect human beings. God knows someone is sleeping with someone elses wife there, or using their postion of authority with interns to get "favors".
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As an example, I am sure that for even SUGGESTING this could happen, they will delete the comment. Doesnt that tell you something about who really has the power here?
 @Get it Right KOMO has no control over the ordinary person on the street. They also don't have a monopoly on news. If you don't like the way the people in the company act, or the ethics of the company itself then don't USE the company's products. No one is forcing you to interact with them.
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With the police, we get no choice.
 @Get it Right YOU should get it right and not make inuendos unless you have proof that will stand up in a court of law. If the cops knocked you down and kicked in your head and the KOMO newsteam filmed that, would you be grateful that there was evidence to bring a lawsuit against the cops who did it? I would.
 @Get it Right KOMO is not a publicly funded organization. But you are correct in saying that KOMO selects what they want to be seen. With the news sources combining under a few controlling organizations it is becoming harder and harder for Americans to see the real events without editorial control of the message. This only aides one side or the other, not the general public.
 @Get it Right I agree! We should investigate KOMO because they carry and have the legal authority to use deadly force, enforce laws without supervision and have the power to incarcerate people...Why stop at KOMO? Someone needs to investigate my grocery bagger, I swear he's purposely giving me bags that rip.Â
The public has a right to know!!!  An innocent person or organization has nothing to hide.  I worry when the people who are supposed to protect us are not being transparent regarding their conduct.
 @Princessnumnums I have lots that you don't need to see on TV. Do you really believe that footage of the cops showing up at my door at 4pm because my 8 month old is teething, sick, and screaming unhappy, and the neighbors called the cops, and I open the door wearing scruffy clothes belongs on TV? How about on someone's blog entitled "parents who get the cops called on them!"? See, this doesn't stop with journalists. If KOMO wins, any schmuck who fills out a request will have access to every little thing you do that the cops record on camera, which is getting to be more and more prevalent. Since it's public record, you have no right to force them to remove the video or still capture. I have nothing to "hide", but I have lots that doesn't belong in the public view. Such as the cop entering my home (private domain), and crooks using video requests and reviewing them for high value items and placements, and then targeting homes based on them.
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Think I'm being paranoid? Once it's out there as public record, it cannot be taken back.
 @Princessnumnums Unfortunately its more accurate that the public has a need to know everything. Its not a right. With regards to the dashcam footage, I would agree it needs to be transparent but there are other sensitive operational requirements that dont require the public's involvement.
 @DarkRenegade  @Princessnumnums Which is why many people agree that a 30 day delay in getting webcam footage may be needed. Three years is completely ridiculous.
 @Commenter87643 Yes that is true but only on specific instances not everything filmed. There should be limitations on this, aside from a time period, so that it isnt abused by people.