Arizona should not make any new laws regulating how police body cameras are used.
That was the consensus of a state legislative committee that met Thursday, after exploring a variety of questions about how to balance privacy and the public's access to footage.
Should an unedited police video of a DUI stop be available to the public? What about a conversation with a citizen that is not related to a crime? Or personal phone calls between an officer and a family member?
For Republican State Sen. John Kavanagh, the answer was no — there should be some restrictions codified by the state.
“Areas which I’m especially concerned about are what I consider to be the dark side of police body cameras, which is the potential to invade the privacy of law-abiding citizens,” said Kavanagh.
Kavanagh argued that, in some cases, people should be able to speak with a cop without being recorded.
But representatives of local law enforcement in Arizona disagreed.
Speaking on behalf of the state sheriff’s association, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot said many agencies are still learning best practices for cameras and how to incorporate them into their communities.
“Any standards or rules must be nimble enough to reflect evolving knowledge, that’s best accomplished through local policy, not through state statute,” said Wilmot.
David Bodney, an attorney for media outlets in Arizona, including KJZZ, argued that public records laws are already sufficient and should not be altered just for body cameras.
While some members of the committee agreed there should be some privacy rules, many said that should be sorted out on the local level.
Ultimately, the committee decided against making any legislative recommendations for next session.