Stop Body Camera Paywalls

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, we all know the public deserves full transparency when it comes to holding police accountable for misconduct. Instead, States and cities all across our country have started adopting new laws to charge the public hundreds of dollars in fees to view or access police body camera footage.

These videos are public records and are essential for accountability and justice for victims of police violence. Putting this footage that should be publicly available behind a paywall makes achieving accountability much more difficult for our residents, especially those who won't be able to afford it, and they tend to be the ones more frequently abused by police.

That is why I am introducing the Stop Body Camera Paywalls Act to prevent any State or unit of local government that creates a paywall for access to these public records from receiving Federal law enforcement grants.

Again, we must make sure that we have transparency, especially when it comes to Federal law enforcement grants. This bill is a necessary step in a wider effort to end police impunity for abuses and ensure the utmost transparency, accountability, and justice for our communities.

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