State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Pennsylvania court rules in favor of access to police videos

Philly.com: HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's highest court said Tuesday the public should have access to dash camera video footage unless the police agency can prove it amounts to criminal investigative material and may be redacted.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in favor of a lower-court decision granting access to video shot by the dash cameras of two state troopers' vehicles as they responded to a 2014 crash near State College. The majority says police vehicle recordings, as a general rule, are not exempt from public disclosure.

The state police had argued the recordings always contain criminal investigative material, but Justice Kevin Dougherty wrote that such determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis.

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