Last week, Seattle Police Department began uploading body camera footage from the January 19, 2015 Martin Luther King, Jr. protests. The department made the video available to the public on a dedicated YouTube channel — SPD BodyWornVideo.
The 16 videos from the day’s events range in length from 24 seconds to over 30 minutes, allowing the public to view blurry, silent video as police interact with the public during the protest. Anyone viewing the public footage may wonder how the city can justify spending any amount of money on body cameras that produce such poor quality video.
The public may be surprised to learn that the hazy images and lack of sound are not a result of cheap equipment. The sound has been removed and video redacted by the Seattle Police Department Public Affairs Office prior to uploading the body camera footage to YouTube.
Using redaction software created by Timothy Clemans, who had previously filed 30 public disclosure requests, the original video is redacted to blur images and remove sound at a rate of one hour for every 10 minutes of video. The purpose of redaction, according to the SPD, is to maintain and protect the privacy of those caught on camera.
By uploading the body camera and dash-cam footage to YouTube, the department will be able to make the videos available to the public and save an average of 7,000 DVDs that are requested each month by defense attorneys, prosecutors and the public.
The Seattle Police Department plans to make the redaction software, or some version of it, available to other departments in the future.
After watching several of the videos in the pilot program, it’s difficult to imagine how these redacted, blurred, silent videos are of any value to public records. In an attempt to protect the privacy of others, the videos have, in my opinion, been redacted to the point of uselessness.
What are your thoughts? Are the body-cam videos posted to YouTube a move in the right direction towards full public disclosure or are the videos over-redacted and useless?
