Legislation that raised alarms about public access to police videos passed through a House committee Thursday with amendments that eased access for members of two Georgia media associations.
Senate Bill 482 started out as a way to restrict the free flow of mugshots online, where unscrupulous operators are reportedly violating a state law that requires removal upon request, free of charge, when the person depicted was not convicted.
Along the way, the bill morphed into a broader restriction on the release of police body-worn camera footage and other law enforcement videos.
Free speech advocates worried that videos showing police misconduct could be withheld from the public if the legislation were to become law.
On Thursday, the House committee charged with vetting the bill exempted certain media organizations from many of the bill’s provisions: “bona fide credentialed” members of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and of the Georgia Press Association, which has 139 newspaper members and operates Capitol Beat.
Everyone else, except those depicted or their next of kin, would have to go in person with a notarized document to obtain a mugshot or video.
And no one except next of kin and association members would have access to state recordings depicting death.
No one would be exempt from a core requirement: that they be able to identify either a person depicted or, in the case of a video, alternative information about the time, location or officer who recorded it.
Police would be authorized to redact images in videos of people the requester cannot identify, except for law enforcement personnel.
Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, said he introduced the legislation because of the harmful invasion of privacy by a rogue mugshot industry.
He said the video component was hastily added in a Senate committee and, in retrospect, was not properly vetted. He said he opted to include videos because police should not be compelled to release them to be exploited “for some kind of sick entertainment.”
During a hearing earlier this week, one public commenter challenged the notion of a video industry profiting from grief. That prompted Rep. Terry Cummings, D-Mableton, to describe a video of a friend’s husband, decapitated in a motorcycle crash, circulating on YouTube. She said the person who posted it demanded money to take it down.
On Thursday, Sarah Hunt-Blackwell, with the ACLU of Georgia, said the new restrictions, combined with a prohibition in another bill, would “completely gut” public scrutiny of police activity through video.
The other bill she referenced, Senate Bill 268, would require the observing public to remain 25 feet away from police and other first responders doing their duty.
“We understand the sensitivities around exploiting people’s most vulnerable moments,” she said, “but placing an almost impenetrable shield around observance of law enforcement actions is not the solution.”
Lobbyists for the two media associations asked for the media exemption on access to videos depicting death.
Both Cummings and Rep. Bill Werkheiser, R-Glennville, asked why those associations were singled out to decide which media organizations get access, and Strickland said it was because they are known to the state and have a credentialing process.
Their members are known entities that would be subject to enforcement of Georgia law governing use of the material, he said, adding that nothing would prevent the General Assembly from amending that provision later “if these two groups are being too exclusive.”
Another amendment expanded the definition of next of kin, giving courts more latitude to decide if a familial relationship exists.
The bill then passed the committee unanimously. Should the House approve it, the Senate would have to agree to the changes before it could become law.